Fox Flower
by dougaude
Summary: Inazuma, Arashi his entire family slaughtered by Beowulfs is forced out into the world on his own. The White Fang find him and at age 10 and Arashi is trained to defend his Faunas status. However as he grows up to the age of 15 Arashi realizes that he disagrees with the White Fang's methods. (Edit, WARNING there are a lot of OCs in this story, if you don't like that don't read.)
1. Ruby Rose

The memory rose to greet Ruby's mind, it was unexpected but not exactly unwanted. Ruby Rose, only a few months younger stands in her pajamas the day before her finals of midyear at Signal Academy. Ruby's head is jolted, and she is momentarily distracted. But then the steady hum of electricity coming from the airborne transport bus lulls Ruby, and the memory slips back to the forefront of her mind.

A bright camera flash and Ruby's eyes settle on the bedroom that used to be hers. It is a place that still feels like home when Ruby thinks about it, but regardless of what Ruby thought about it she needed to move on. Uncle Qrow, a wise old and kind man in Ruby's eyes, moved from behind a mounted camera on a tripod, smiling sadly with a single tear streaking down his cheek.

Ruby could almost hear herself say, "Uncle, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong…oh goodness I must have."

Someone else's voice interrupted Ruby's stroll down memory lane, "Excuse me, Ruby."

Ruby's eyes had closed momentarily as she remembered Uncle Qrow, but she was at full attention at the sound of the voice. It was the steward of the transport bus. Ruby had been told by Qrow that the steward of any public transport bus, when addressing you, had something terribly important to say and it would be wise to listen to them.

"Um yeah? I'm a little tired sorry, uh…what do you need?" Ruby asked politely, despite the fact that this was the second interruption. '_Well darn it._' Ruby thought, the memory slipped away from Ruby's mind, but not entirely. She could still feel it, clinging to the back of her consciousness. Ruby didn't want to go digging at it because it would prevent her from answering the steward's question.

"Uh yes you will be landing at you destination, the grand city of Vale…in 5 minutes. I, on the behalf of Vytal transportation industries do sincerely hope you've enjoyed your ride us."

With the interruptions, and the fact that Ruby couldn't remember Qrow anymore did hinder the trip. However Ruby answered honestly when she said politely, "Thank you, it was a wonderful experience…uh, I don't think I'll be coming back on though."

"Oh…ah, yes Ruby Rose. Your uncle sent you to live in Vale, didn't he?" The steward said a look of sudden remembrance on their hologram face.

Ruby yawned and quickly said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yawn. Um, how do you know my uncle…uh never mind here's my stop. Thanks for the ride!"

"And thank you Miss. Rose for choosing us for your transportation needs." The steward's mouth smiled, but her eyes stayed the same as she said, "Thank you. And have a nice day!"

Ruby realized as she got up from her seat, yawning sleepiness that had apparently crept up on her while she had closed her eyes, the last part of the steward's message was automated. Ruby heard the steward addressing several more passengers while they prepared to depart as well. It was still a few minutes until Ruby had to get off, but she still prepared her stuff nonetheless.

Once the stopping station could be seen outside the window of the flying transport bus, several riders shouldered bags and got up. Despite being in the air, the transport bus was quite stable enough to walk upright in. However most people, including Ruby, preferred to sit in the comfortable chairs. Ruby's journey thus far had been exhausting.

Despite her tiredness Ruby cheerfully hummed to herself softly, as to not disturbed the other sleeping riders who still chose to say on the bus, and as Ruby joined a line of riders exiting the transport bus a bit of memory rose back up from the depths of her mind. It was Ruby's turn to get off, so she held the memory where it was only glossing over the details not fully remembering it.

Ruby had only been on a flying transport bus once before, and when she had gotten off Ruby had learned that you need to concentrate. Just so you didn't land on someone; the bus hovered almost on top of a railing, its left side barely peaking over the fence and hovering above a moving almost writhing crowd of people. The people in the crowd generally was gracious enough to clear a space for people to land, so it was quite easy and simple for Ruby to jump down and brace her knees as her feet struck the ground sending vibrations running up her legs.

Ruby didn't feel any pain, thanks to the physical training required in order to be a scythe wielder. Ruby and a few other riders found an escort, an elderly yet still wiry man around the age of 70. Ruby once she caught sight of his face was amazed at his age, and that he still did what he did; directed newcomers through the hectic intersection of Vale city. It was a place where many people had to cross paths to get where they needed to go, and therefore it was almost always crowded.

Now Vale itself was not a confusing city, in fact Ruby had been there before. But usually Ruby had gotten to the city through school transportation, which was much different from public transport. One difference Ruby remembered between public and school transportation was the room on board, whenever Ruby rode school transport she always felt as if she were riding something that she wasn't meant to ride in.

Ruby shook off the weird memory and smiled at people, and waved at people, but also ignored some people who were yelling and cursing. That last part Ruby disliked, she didn't dislike the words themselves. Ruby just didn't like the way people always said them. The guide directed them to a gate, and Ruby thanked him. The other people just handed him some money and walked back into the crowd.

Ruby confused, looked at the guide questioningly. The guide looked at her almost with tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry miss, but no one has ever thanked me with words in quite a long while for escorting them."

"Well then that's wrong, you're a wonderful escort! Everyone should thank you, but why did those people give you money? Do I have to give you money?" Ruby was suddenly nervous; if the man wanted money for escorting then Ruby was in trouble. She didn't have any money to give this kind man!

"Oh don't worry my dear, it's not necessary for you to give me money." And with a smile the old man departed back into the crowd. Ruby sighing and flipping her red hood up so it hid her face walked onward into the mostly deserted streets of downtown city Vale. '_My first stop will be a dust store._' Ruby decided this since she knew little about the substance called dust.

Ruby walked through the streets only occasionally passing someone heading in the opposite direction. Once Ruby almost got lost by turning down a street that lead to an entirely different part of the city than where she intended to go. Now only slightly afraid of getting lost in an unfamiliar place Ruby retraced her steps and found the correct street, and traveling this street Ruby found a dust shop that was open late hours.

Reaching into her blouse pocket Ruby checked the time with her timepiece, 11:45 P.M. it said amidst the soft whirling and clicking of tiny gears. Ruby put away the marvel because she felt guilty whenever she looked at it. A memory of Qrow this time a decidedly more unpleasant and definitely unwelcome one tried to rise in Ruby's mind to robe her concentration, fighting the memories from her not long gone past Ruby took out ear buds and stuck them in both her ears.

They almost triggered another crushing memory but Ruby succeeded against the tide of guilt and pressed play on a random play list. The song that came first almost made Ruby keel over with grief, it was the song she used to always sing with her mother when she was young, and when her mother was still alive. Tears ran down Ruby's cheeks and she leaned her head against the shop door trying to collect her self.

Eventually the tears stopped flowing and the song stopped, it switched to one of Ruby's favorite songs and she almost sighed with happiness, but she didn't because she was now browsing the isles of the store. Ruby looked at in wonder of all shorts of dust, red dust that could create fiery explosions, blue dust that could create if treated right a blast of frigid air cold enough to freeze any object it touched. Moving farther back and positioning herself deeper into the stores depths Ruby saw some of the more rare types of dust.

This dust was yellow, but with a slightly greenish golden tint to it when light passed through it. The shopkeeper was kind enough to give Ruby some samples to look at and she thanked him. Nodding his head he went back into the back room of the shop, whenever customers came in her rarely disturbed them, he only came out if he needed to restock some dust or if customers rang a service bell attached to the wall next to the door that lead to the back room.

This odd looking dust Ruby pondered for some time, it was getting much later almost midnight when men dressed entirely in black approached the shop. Ruby might have notice them if she had been paying attention, not having her ear buds in with the music blasting, or her attention being almost entirely focused on the electric dust that powered most of the modern machines and appliances of the modern world. Ruby's time piece was somewhat of a marvel to her, Ruby could not for the life of her figure out how it kept running after all these years without a dust recharge.

Ruby shook her head and her ear buds dislodged, when this happened the music stopped and she heard something. Turning her head only slightly she saw a man dressed entirely in black except for a white beanie saunter into the shop. Ruby saw the shadows shift outside the door and realized that there were more people outside, when she realized what was happening Ruby gasped. She recognized an almost textbook late night robbery, when Ruby looked closer she saw the White Fang insignia on all five of the men's outfits. It was a very dark red so their outfits looked to be almost entirely black, the four men outside all reached up and pulled off their black ski masks they had on to reveal matching white beanies.

The fifth man inside the shop punched the shopkeeper and started grabbing some dust; Ruby using her scythe grabbed him by his lapel and flung him out the shop window. The man crashed through the glass shattering it, and skidded onto the street. Ruby jumped after him, her boots crunching on the broken glass. The men all drew weapons; one a grenade launcher and they all rushed Ruby trying to overwhelm her. Stabbing her scythe end into the ground Ruby shot forward and clothes lined one man with her fist to his throat.

The punch knocked him backward unconscious, but Ruby realized that the only way she was able to pull that off was because the man didn't how she fought. The others seeing this tried to prepare themselves but couldn't, using some pretty advanced fighting styles, Ruby began dispatching the much taller and stronger men with ease. Once the last man fell to the ground unconscious Ruby leaned on her scythe in the middle of the street, sleeping bodies surrounding her.

Ruby's eyes drooped as she brought back a memory, this one was of Ruby eavesdropping on a conversation Qrow was having with someone on the phone while in his office. Qrow's office adjoined his bedroom so Ruby was able to nick a few things from Qrow's bedroom without him noticing, sharp pangs of guild shot through Ruby. The memory played out and Ruby could almost feel the rough wood against her ear and cheek as she leaned in to listen. Ruby heard words then and now spoken by her uncle, "I want both my granddaughter and her friend Yang to go to school! Yes I realize that Ruby wont be able to go to Beacon, but that's only because the board of education simply refuses to part with her test results…what about her? Ah yes, Yang did qualify to go to Beacon. If I was sending both of them now, I would sorely regret it." Qrow's voice grew noticeably quieter so Ruby went to the floor, and stuck her ear to the crack in the door to hear things better.

Ruby could barely pick up Qrow's voice as he said, "I fear for Yang's life, I've heard reports coming from school and city police forces that a dangerous fugitive is roaming the forest of Forever Fall…I only hope that they don't send the students out into the forest for some kind of test, with him there it's much more dangerous than before…"

The rest of Qrow's words faded since in the memory Ruby had moved away from the door, and that's where the memory ended. The passing of this crucial memory left Ruby in tears for the second time that night.

The memory reminded Ruby that she would be separated from her sister for a long time, or at least two or four more years. It would all depend on how her test results turned out, and how many more years she had to finish at Signal Academy. A man with red hair wearing a black fedora poked his head over the lip of the building roof and cursed, he saw a girl looking like a huntress standing in the middle of a bunch of his goons. With a curse Roman Torchwick pulled his head back but not before Ruby saw him and began rushing up the fire escape to catch up with him.

Ruby was quite fast, but not as fast as Roman. The two of them began a chase that lead them a few rooftops away, they ended the chase once Roman stopped at the edge of a roof on top of a department store. Cursing twice Roman spun around and pulled out his cane pointing it at Ruby. Ruby held up Crescent Rose and saw a target reticule slip up at the end of Roman's cane, the bottom of the cane popped open to reveal the inside of a barrel.

Roman grinning sighted Ruby's head in the reticule and fired several red dust shots at Ruby. Ruby dodged them until one of them hit her scythe and sent her flying backwards skidding almost to the opposite edge of the rooftop. Roman aimed again but had his cane barrel knocked aside as a woman jumped down with her weapon outstretched towards Roman, who backed up to the roofs edge.

Just then a hover vehicle lifted from the sidewalk, which was cloaked in shadow to bring its open door level with the roof the three people were standing on. Roman grinning triumphantly stepped into craft. He began shooting at the huntress more confidently since he had the higher ground, but Ruby could see that this mysterious huntress was evading Roman's shots expertly and simultaneously firing rune bolts that shook the craft.

The bolts scared Roman to scramble into the pilots seat of the hover vehicle, a different woman dressed almost entirely in red with runes glowing blue and red running down her arms stepped into the open doorway of the craft.

She began firing fire bolts at the huntress below and the two had a duel. Ruby got up and switched her scythe to sniper mode and fired of a shot, reloading the gun through a mechanical pin reloading system Ruby repeated the process sending round after round at the red woman. The huntress near her continued to send rune bolts up and she summoned a rune storm that almost brought down the hover vehicle itself.

The red woman's aura flared and the vehicle righted itself. The runes on her arms glowed and pulsed with an evil red and blue light, the woman raised both her arms and sent several deadly, exploding, fire bolts at Ruby. The huntress was forced to intervene with some pretty powerful protective runes that saved both their lives, but when the smoke cleared from the fiery blasts Ruby saw that the hover vehicle was gone.

Ruby was grabbed by the shoulders and looked at closely by the blue and white dressed huntress, "Good you're not injured." "Are you a real huntress?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Um yes." The woman answered a little perplexed.

With an even more exited voice Ruby almost squealed, "Can I have you autograph?"


	2. Entrance Exame

The huntress pulled back away from Ruby studying the girl trying to find out if she was serious or not. Realizing she was the blue and white huntress that had saved Ruby reluctantly said, "Yeah I guess you can."

"Oh thank you I've never meat a real Huntress before! Oh, this is so exciting." Ruby exclaimed but then realized neither she nor the huntress who had saved her had any means for Ruby to acquire the huntress's signature. With a disappointed sigh Ruby turned to leave but was stopped with a hand to her shoulder, "Now just a moment young lady. I need to have a word with you."

And with that Ruby was knocked out cold, she didn't see the huntress move so Ruby figured it must have been something else. Later as Ruby's consciousness returned to her she remembered the voice that had spoken right before she had been knocked out hadn't been that of the huntress. Ruby sighed and felt another hand on her shoulder, this time the voice that spoke was kind gentle, "Sit there a moment more my dear, the effects sill haven't worn off yet."

So after a moment Ruby shook herself out of the weariness and opened her eyes. What greeted Ruby was the most wondrous sight she could behold, a cup of cold milk and plate of warm freshly baked cookies. Ruby leaned almost her entire body forward until her nose was mere inches away from the heavenly treats, then she sniffed. The aroma of fresh chocolate chip cookies settled itself in Ruby's nostrils and invaded her senses; Ruby being a long time fan of the delicious treat stared longingly at the plate of cookies.

Someone coughed several times, until they finally said, "Miss Rose if you would, please try and focus your attention somewhere else besides the cookies." Reluctantly taking her eyes off the cookies she looked to her left and saw a hand on her shoulder connected to an arm, which was in turn connected to the…huntress that had saved her. "Oh my goodness, thanks for saving me!" Ruby said her words almost stumbling over themselves to be heard. The huntress chuckling pulled her hand away and walked out of the room.

Ruby sat there and tried to figure out where she was but couldn't keep her eyes off the cookies and milk. Suddenly realizing that the milk was growing warm and the cookies cold, Ruby lunged forward but then delicately drew the plate and milk glass more towards her side of the table they were sitting on. Not bothering to notice that she was seated in a chair inside a room with the only access point being a door, and the only source of light being a florescent bulb sitting in a socket embedded into the ceiling, Ruby began eating the cookies.

One by one the plate of a dozen cookies disappeared into Ruby's mouth followed by a small sip of milk, pretty soon and only after 4 cookies Ruby abandoned this method of eating and just started stuffing the cookies in. Once she had cleared the plate of its cookie treasure Ruby drank the milk like she had been wandering the desert for days without water, and having suddenly found it. With a sigh Ruby polished off the milk glass and set it down on the plate, only then did she notice what room she was in, and the man seated opposite her.

He wore the most curious expression on his face, it was halfway between impressed and slightly disturbed. After a moment of Ruby staring at him the man straightened his glasses on his nose with a push of his finger. Ruby deciding to study him noticed a mop of brown hair on his head sitting below this were a pair of eyes staring out of horn rimed glasses. The man wore a gray scarf, and below this he wore a green frock coat.

The man's sleeves brushed the edges of the table as he clasped his fingers together and gazed at Ruby. "So down to business then, what is your name?"

"My name is Ruby Rose sir." Ruby responded somewhat reluctantly. She didn't know this man, but judging by the way he held himself Ruby felt like she could trust him.

"Very well then miss Rose, would you care to explain this." The man pulled out a device that showed a security camera showing Ruby taking down the White Fang goons. "I would normally applauded such an effort, these men are wanted fugitives and are now being interrogated and later are being sent to jail. But since you used some unorthodox and highly advanced techniques to take them down that has me concerned, how does a girl your age learn to do stuff like that?"

"Well my uncle taught me, his name's Qrow. Perhaps you heard of him?" Ruby said this time with less uncertainty, but a small amount of distrust remained. Ruby didn't know this mans name.

"Ah yes the headmaster at Signal Academy. A great and marvelous starting school for the general public, but also a necessary stepping stone for those who can't afford the best education in hunter and huntress training right when they become of teachable age. Forgive me I've not yet told you my name, I am Ozpin residing headmaster at Beacon Academy." When Ozpin said this all of Ruby's distrust vanished and was replaced by culture shock.

Here she was sitting in the presence of the headmaster of probably the most prestigious school that trained hunters and huntresses in the world. With a tentative voice Ruby asked, "Okay I've answered your questions…now can I leave?"

"Why yes you could've left when you awoke, the huntress held the door for you. But you stayed because you were too occupied with the food in front of you. Once you were done eating you could've left but you saw me, and decided to stay and talk to me." Ozpin said this with a hint of a smile, but then it disappeared and he leaned in close to Ruby saying, "I'll drop the ruse Ruby, I know who you are, and I know where you come from. The last two years of your life you have attended Signal Academy learning and cultivating a skill that has become most precious to you. Your ability to wield that scythe of yours, I also know that your sister Yang Xaio Long has been admitted into Beacon Academy."

Ruby swallowed and refused to say anything, she was too enthralled by the headmaster's words that she decided to be quite and listen, but once he was done Ruby planned to ask many questions.

"Right now you can go back to Signal Academy and finish your four years there. You can study hard with the tests and you might make it into Beacon, but then again you might not. I see in you Ruby, raw talent and unformed skill. Instead of going back to Signal Academy would you consider taking the placement test to Beacon now, and I would guarantee you a spot in the next open semester if you pass the test?" Ozpin made his offer and then there was silence.

Ruby tried talking but her throat wouldn't let her, she was speechless. Such and opportunity, the placement test was easy Ruby had already taken a few practice tests and found that she could pass those, so she agreed. "Of course I will! Oh thank you, when can I start?"

"Right now, I have the test with me." Ozpin pulled out from the folds of his frock coat a packet of paper with a small amount of writing on the cover and a writing implement. It looked like a pencil and writing her name at the top of the front page of the packet, Ruby discovered it was actually a pen. '_Darn it, this means I can't make any mistakes. And whatever I put down will be my finale answer, since I can't erase anything I put down!_' This thought made Ruby nervous and once Ozpin left the room closing the door behind him so Ruby could concentrate Ruby almost had a panic attack.

A major crossroads in her life was happening right now, if she failed this test her education would flow with the massages. But if she passed Ruby would have the opportunity to get admitted into Beacon two years early! And the best part of all, or at least Ruby thought it was the best part; she would be able to go to school with her sister Yang.

Steeling her will Ruby glanced down and saw the words, 'Level S Entrance Exam to Beacon Academy'. This meant that the test sitting in front of Ruby…if she passed this test Ruby would qualify for all 4 terms at Beacon. All Ruby had to do was get good enough grades and she would be allowed to get a complete education at Beacon. _'Oh such great excitement, but also great sorrow_.' Ruby thought as she flipped the page and saw that there was only 1 question of the first page of the exam.

It was multiple-choice format, but also required additional input, reading the instructions Ruby saw that the additional information required to be given throughout the essay after ever answer would be necessary for a background check. Ruby had heard Qrow explain this concept to Yang; the information Ruby gave here would be considered absolute truth.

If Ruby were to be accused of causing trouble, the authorities at Beacon would look to the profile of information that she had provided during the entrance exam to see if the accusations matched the information given. Ruby knew that the movers and shakers of the school board had many other ways of finding out information if the profile she provided wasn't enough, so Ruby decided to be as truthful as she could.

The first question asked something about the city of Vale's history, Ruby thanked the many field trips she had attended while at her short stay at Signal. The next few questions focused on more detailed parts of Vale's history, specific events and what happened there. The first section ended after 10 questions and after going through most of the test Ruby discovered that she was tired.

Whatever had brought her hear hadn't been a state of sleep. Once Ruby finished the test Ozpin granted Ruby the option to go outside and get some fresh air, and option that Ruby immediately seized and whisked her self out the door and into the almost blinding sunlight. Ruby held up a hand shielding her eyes until they adjusted. The scene before her was hidden through a thin bank of fog, Ruby almost wined because out loud because she couldn't see where she was, but once she took a deep breath in through her rose and out her mouth, she realized that the air was pure and very refreshing.

It gave Ruby such momentary pleasure to stand there and breath the fresh air that she didn't go back inside the building to discover her exam results. This time Ruby breathed in through her mouth and tasted the air, pine and dew but also the tang of rock. '_I'm in the mountains, but how did I get here?_' Ruby saw headmaster Ozpin step up beside her and hold out her exam saying, "Please look over that, and if you have any questions on your score…well you'll have to see me in my office." Ozpin chuckled as he said this, but he then ushered Ruby back into the room.

Ruby's eyes clouded over and she fell into a sleeping stupor, later when Ruby's consciousness returned to her she found herself sitting in a chair. It was a comfortable chair indeed and Ruby was quite tired from not sleeping for such a long time. But alas she couldn't sleep since right then Ruby saw Yang sitting in a chair opposite her, smiling. "Hi little sis, you ready to go?"

"Wait where?" Ruby said confused not quite remembering what had transpired in the mountain room.

"Why going to school of course, now I know that doesn't sound like much fun…but we'll be going with each other. Won't that be just wonderful?" Yang said with much enthusiasm.

Ruby just nodded and stood to follow Yang to wherever they needed to go. Ruby barely paid attention to where they were going, how had she gotten to and from that strange room? The events surrounding Ruby's entrance examination were fuzzy at best and completely indiscernible at worst. So Ruby gave up on the effort of trying to remember.

* * *

><p>With a startled cry the bird fell to the ground attempting to flap it's now useless wings, Arashi was out hunting again and this time he was using his hands to take down his prey. Now normally Arashi would shy away from merrily slaughtering animals just to satisfy his grumbling stomach.<p>

But thanks to his skills and thirst for adrenaline Arashi couldn't quite stop himself from killing something, when the occasion permitted. Arashi could have just as easily found a berry bush or an apple tree. Now the 15-year-old Faunus was no fool, he knew he needed meat and protein to survive, not just fruits nuts and berries.

Why didn't Arashi just set traps to catch the animals? Because despite his wishes to the contrary Arashi rarely wanted to eat any meat unless he had acquired it with his own hands. The only time Arashi had ever eaten meat caught by another Faunus's hands was when he was just learning to hunt, and couldn't properly catch anything himself.

Now as he held the strange looking bird down by it's crippled wings he saw fear in its eyes, but he also saw the cornered fury of an animal that would most likely severely injure him. Or at least rob him of a few pints of blood, Arashi didn't want to lose any of that, if he wasn't in top shape how could he defend himself if some Grimm creature decided to attack him?

Deciding swiftly Arashi snapped the neck of the bird and immediately, after the body stopped twitching, took a knife he had inside a sheath attached to his belt and skinned the bird of it's scant feathers. The animal mainly had a lot of fur on its body; Arashi rationalized that it would have had more feathers had it actually flown. He also skinned and removed the fur as well.

But it was a flightless bird, and Arashi thanked it for being so stupid. That meant an easy chase so he could conserve his strength. Arashi Inazuma now wondered a dense forest, it wasn't quite in the middle of nowhere since Arashi had found and overheard a group of traveling men say this, "I heard that the students are gonna be launched into this forest again."

"Again whatever for? This place is practically crawling with Grimm, well not really but they do roam these parts more than others."

"Yeah I hear this school's called Beacon and they train huntsmen and huntswoman."

Arashi had almost burst out of the bush he had been hiding in and corrected the men. The school Beacon was a prestigious Academy that trained hunters and huntresses to battle the forces of Grimm and keep the world around them safe. But Arashi having enough sense about him, stayed hidden.

He could have told the men that he himself was going to be admitted to Beacon Academy. But he didn't want to pop out of the forest. In fact Arashi planned to do this, but right as he was about to reveal himself Arashi heard these words that sent a thrill of fear through him.

"I heard rumors of a fugitive and very dangerous Faunus roaming these woods."

"Crock of bull-you knows that's not true! Come on let's leave before the Grimm find us."

And with that the men had left, thankfully before his phone went off. Taking it out of one of the many cargo pants pockets Arashi answered the call with, "Yes what is it?"

"Arashi it's me, headmaster Ozpin. I realize your situation is a bit shady, but judging by the fact that you have been willing to keep the contract I will be willing to allow you to enter into my school." Ozpin said.

"Headmaster sir, with all due respect why would you want me? And second, how am I even going to get into the school?" Arashi asked.

"To answer your first question you have amazing talent, young man you possess vast knowledge on how to use almost every different weapon possible. That level of skill is needed in a future hunter, which I hope you will agree to become."

"Alright I'll become a hunter, now answer my second question please."

"Very well then, you will take part of the relic hunting every student must do in order to truly enter and be permitted to walk the halls of Beacon." Ozpin began.

"Sorry for interrupting, but no need to explain. I know how that works, and I also know how I'll be able to get into Beacon Academy. Thanks again sir." Arashi said.

"Right good bye young man, and good luck." With that Ozpin hung up and Arashi put his phone back where he had gotten it. Now as Arashi built a temporary fire to roast the bird and two rabbits he had caught, he sighed with contempt.

Granted how he seemed to be living now wasn't the best way, or the most posh but it was life. He wasn't stuck in a cage, forced to abide by ideals and rules that he didn't agree with.

Scowling slightly as he remembered what he had narrowly escaped from only a week previously, Arashi prepared his meal in the middle of the forest Forever Fall.


	3. Half Sisters

Ruby snapped out of her stupor and focused more on where she was going. By the look of things Yang was leading Ruby to a docking area. "Why are we going to a docking area, isn't that where they unload…eh, stuff?" Ruby asked.

Yang answered after a brief laugh, "No. Ruby what you speaking of is a unloading area…and sometimes a loading area. No a docking area is where ships dock, for a few minutes at least."

"Oh that sounds exiting! What happens when ships dock? I've only ever seen them fly in the sky, they actually land…err sorry, dock?" Ruby asked intrigued. It was true; Ruby only saw the flying machines…well flying. Never once had Ruby seen the things fly down to the ground to refuel, now that Ruby knew they docked, well let's just say Ruby loved discovering new things.

"Well they refuel, obviously." Yang answered looking at Ruby and smiling.

Smiling back Ruby asked, "Your oddly happy, why's that?"

Yang stopped and faced Ruby, seriously she said, "I'm happy because my sister, whom I thought I wasn't going to see in like, two years, well you're coming with me to school. Do you know what that means?"

"Oh of course! That means I'll graduate the same time as you…right?" Ruby said hopefully.

"Right!" Yang smiled again and hugged her little sister, Ruby hugged her big sister back. And once the two exited the hug they merrily walked on, "Oh right, Ruby! Your question, what happens when ships dock? Well they refuel, but not only that; they also pick up passengers…err school people…students! Yeah there we go. They also pick up students, sometimes at least."

Ruby giggled, but then stopped and gasped, they had come upon the docking station. An airship was descending to dock, it's engines quite, and Ruby asked, "Huh that's odd, are its engines supposed to by quite?"

"Look closer Ruby." Yang said pointing, her tone somewhat worried, "It looks like its engines are out, must be descending by emergency thrusters."

"Ah I see, so that means…" Ruby began.

"That our flight to school will be delayed for a while, or until they get the engines fixed." Yang speculated.

"Now hold on Yang, we should go talk to the pilot." Ruby offered.

"No students are already getting off, in fact they've all gotten off." Yang said and then gestured to a door on the side of the airship. It was closing as apparently the last student walked off the airship onto a ramp leading down to the ground from the doorway. "So Ruby, what should we do to pass the time? Ruby? Hey come back here!"

"I'm just going to go talk to the pilot, like I said! I'll be back, wait there please!" Ruby yelled back at Yang, she was already halfway to the ramp that lead up to the airship. Ruby had to walk through the students to get to the ramp; she stopped one girl dressed mostly in black. "Excuse me, but do you happen to know what's going on here?"

"Yes." Blake answered, although Ruby didn't know that was her name. In fact Blake's brooding nature startled Ruby, and the poor little girl almost shuttered as she asked, "Well can you tell me what's going on here, please?"

Blake sighed, covered her eyes rubbing the tension out of them and said, "Yeah apparently some crazy fucked up terrorist is flying an airship loaded with automatic weapons. This ship here was hit, oh don't look like that." Blake had uncovered her eyes. "The damage isn't serious, I talked to the pilot and he said they'll have the minor damage fixed by morning."

"I'm going the same place your going, Beacon right? Right, so um…does that mean we'll be leaving in the morning? What about the terrorist?" Ruby asked.

Another girl, Pyrrha although Ruby didn't know her name either, jumped in and commented, "I heard that terrorist is high on drugs, he even has a stash up there." Pyrrha leaned in closer and Ruby did likewise, Pyrrha whispered, "I think he's using that stash to stay high, I heard a news report that the guys an escaped inmate."

"He is an escaped inmate." Blake said. Ruby was now looking back and forth between the two girls, totally oblivious to the fact that they would soon become some of her best friends. But right now? Ruby was terrified of them, she wasn't used to being away from Yang in public situations. '_Oh why did I leave her? I never feel confident without my sister Yang, well that's a lie. I never feel confident in public without my sister…yeah that's it._'

Ruby was scared and nervous, but she tried not to let it show. Ruby didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her future classmates. Although almost all the kids standing around Ruby were all older than her by a year or two, it looked like they were all going into the same year as Ruby, Ruby discovered this based on what they were saying. Ruby shamed herself for expertly eavesdropping in on everyone's conversations, her thieving while living with Qrow had developed inside of Ruby like a non life threatening cancer, it grew and grew but never seemed to go away.

No matter how hard she tried Ruby always had inklings at the back of her mind to go and snatch some shiny and wondrous object. In fact Ruby always found ways to do it quite easily, and get away with it unnoticed by the person she was stealing from. This sort of shamed Ruby, but it would horrify Yang if she found out. Yang knew Ruby as the sweet innocent and overly enthusiastic and polite little sister.

Ruby didn't want to think about what would happen if Yang found out the truth about her, so Ruby played the role, which wasn't that, hard. That polite and enthusiastic nature…was well Ruby's nature, but it seemed thieving was Ruby's say third nature, her second was that of a fierce desire to be a huntress.

Ruby sat on the step of the ramp while the two strange girls (Blake and Pyrrha) walked away continuing their conversation about the drug addict escaped prison inmate turned terrorist. Yang slowly walked over to Ruby, but was stopped and forced to talk with several people. '_Well look at this, my big sister is already making friends. Those two girls, god I'm so frightened. All these new people, not only that I'm afraid their watching me…eh that's probably just my other side._' Ruby was split not in half but in two somewhat unequal pieces, the thief and the regular happy Ruby Rose. Ruby wasn't particularly worried about the thieving part of her, after all her father always said, "You must be comfortable with all parts of you, even if you end up being split into two halves you must accept both of them as yourself."

Ruby loved her father dearly and wanted to follow his advice, but granted since he had remarried to her mom and then had her, Ruby kind of distrusted her father. This distrust was completely irrational; it's just that Ruby didn't quite know how her day had had Yang. They obviously were half sisters, but Ruby's father or anyone had yet to explain things to Ruby.

Making up her mind Ruby decided to ask Yang, conveniently Yang stood in front of Ruby in that exact moment and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Well I was going to ask you something, but go ahead." Ruby answered standing up.

"You do know we're half sisters…right?" Yang asked.

"Oh of course…but how?" Ruby asked suspiciously.

Yang was surprised and answered seriously, "Why Ruby how else would we be half sisters? You dad married my mom; the two were totally in love and treated each other with fairness. A couple of years after I was born my mother died, about a month later our dad met you mom." Ruby smiled up at Yang and added, "And my mom loved out dad to death, right?"

"Yes Ruby she did, but I don't think our dad did. Or at least not as much as my mom, however I was begging for a sister from the moment I could talk I was always saying, 'sister'. Dad soon figured it out and sought your mother for a wife." Yang giggled slightly as she remembered, the two sisters had walked to an outdoor café area. A square building with a window leading to the outside was serving food to the students who were currently on layover.

When Yang and Ruby got to the counter the man manning it informed them that he and the staff that was with him would be serving them dinner as well, Ruby and Yang took the lunch he was offering and went to sit down. Ruby asked Yang what day of the month it was, when Yang replied, "It's the 7th." Ruby realized that she hadn't got any sleep in almost 48 hours.

Ruby yawned once they sat down at a table set out a little ways away from the counter serving food. Yang looked at her little sister and saw dark circles under her eyes. "Your kind of sleepy, aren't you sis? How long has it been since you've slept?"

"Oh almost two full days, I don't know what's wrong with me." Ruby said frankly.

Yang laughed again and Ruby couldn't help but smile, she loved her big sisters laugh Ruby had loved it ever since she first heard it when she was a baby. "Nothings wrong with you Ruby! Your just anxious, I bet you weren't planning on going to Beacon; you just took the entrance exam a little while ago. I bet it almost completely threw you off didn't it?" Yang guessed.

Ruby chuckled and said, "Yeah it did through me for a loop, in fact I think I'm not out of that loop. I'm still kind of in shock, I actually passed and am now going to like…like the most prestigious school ever!"

Yang knew there was only one school higher up than Beacon, but she didn't say that. What Yang did do was reach across the table and take both of Ruby's hands in hers, looking into Ruby's eyes Yang commented, "I love you Ruby, and you'll always me my little sister, remember those two things always and you'll do fine! Why you'll plow through this school like it's nothing, just you wait you'll be near the top of your class in no time!" Yang said then laughed again letting go of Ruby's hands, she began eating her food. A hamburger, some salted fries, and a slice of watermelon.

"Wait why not at the top of the class?" Ruby asked, she had already began work on her watermelon slice; which she found insanely delicious, although Ruby knew in her heart that the taste of the watermelon paled in comparison to the taste of cookies.

"Why I'll be at the top of the class silly. I've got to be an example!" Yang said happily.

"So you'll just be the best, a pretty good example if I do say so myself." Ruby commented.

After Yang thanked Ruby for the complement, the rest of the day sort of dragged on. Despite being in each others company, which Ruby certainly enjoyed since Yang was naturally fun to be around, Ruby and Yang both begun to be bored and could hardly wait. But once they were reminded by way of loudspeaker that the terrorist was still roaming the skies, the two sisters decided to scout out a place to rest. They knew that both of them would be here until morning.

Once Yang had found and dragged blankets and a couple pillows to a secluded spot, she set up a sleeping pace. Many of the students disappeared, Yang wasn't concerned about them, she was only concerned about herself and hers sister at the moment. Despite them being only half-sisters, Yang and Ruby had grown up together under the same caring father.

After a little while dinner was being served, Ruby went to the counter to get something for her and Yang. While Ruby was at the counter getting dinner Yang brooded, she hadn't seen any of her friends in the group of future students of Beacon currently stranded here at the docking station. Yang began to have doubts herself about going to this prestigious school. But Yang shook the feeling off, she needed to be strong for Ruby, she had to be being the older sister.

Once Ruby brought back the diner they ate quietly and quickly. The pilot had all informed them that by now they had fixed the problem with the airship, and that they would be leaving fairly early in the morning. As they lay in their beds Ruby asked, "What did you mean about our day, I know he cares for us deeply, but you said he used to not love my mother?"

"Ah yes our father, a tricky man that one. Don't doubt me Ruby I do love him, it's just that I still don't think he loves you mother." Yang answered clearly sill awake and having trouble falling asleep.

"But then why did her marry her?"

"Well I…I honestly don't know Ruby, I've wondered that over the years, but I've just never got around to asking him." After saying this Yang suddenly fell asleep. Ruby followed suit and pretty soon both sisters were fast asleep. Little did they know that their worst nightmare to come, was trying to bar their access to Beacon.

Ruby and Yang were both woken up with kicks to their sides. As Ruby clutched her side in pain, Yang stood up and saw a girl dressed almost entirely in white expensive clothing walking away. '_Eh a rich snob, probably though us common rabble and kicked us awake. Well we'll show her, I'll take her on and Ruby will show how smart she is. Yeah, walk away you…_'

"Yang! We need to got the airship is taking off!" Ruby yelled. Yang ran to catch up and then all the students were on an airship, which lifted off, and flew to Beacon Academy.

* * *

><p>The breeze buffeted the airship piloted by the terrorist, but the Faunus's enhanced senses granted him the reflexes to hold the craft steady. Ry Yin sat in the cockpit of the 'borrowed' airship and spied on his radar, another airship circumventing him and heady to Beacon, "Damnit!" Ry shouted, "Why doesn't this every work? My luck always runs out when I fly, except for my ears and reflexes I'm fucking useless driving an airship."<p>

"Yeah, yeah just keep driving Yin, wee need to get this package delivered. Now that those freaks are gonna get into Beacon, we might as well continue and make the delivery." A White Fang good in the copilot seat said, despite sitting in the seat next to Ry, the goon wasn't even attempting to pilot the airship.

Ry couldn't blame him, he was having trouble himself, but once he brought it lower to the ground the wind died down somewhat and Ry was able to maneuver the craft more smoothly. Ry Yin pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number he never thought he would dial in another million years.

* * *

><p>Arashi sighed; he loved having a belly full of warm food. As Arashi walked through the forest he thought, '<em>I wonder how much longer I have to keep this charade up.<em>' When Arashi heard his phone buzzing again he picked it out of his pocket, Arashi's ears twitched and he got a bad feeling, answering the phone call Arashi said, "Yes?"

"Hey Arashi, long time! And I wish it was longer!"

Arashi almost screamed when he heard Ry's voice on the other line. Ry was his ex partner and full time White Fang member since birth. When Arashi had entered into the White Fang at the age of 10 he had meat Ry, and the two had become instant best buddies. However once Arashi decided that he didn't agree with the White Fang's methods Ry rejected Arashi and swore that they were now enemies.

"What do you want Ry?" Arashi asked tense.

"Why I would like to inform you of all the success I'm having!" Ry responded.

"Why you damn dirty scum! You can't just keep robbing places like that!" Arashi shouted into his phone trying to break the eardrum of the Faunus on the other side.

"Language, watch you language. You don't know who you're talking to!"

"I know exactly who I'm talking to! A murderer, thief, and a lowly pilot within the White Fang's ranks." Arashi stated his temper slowly rising despite all his efforts the past week of trying to suppress it.

"Ah! Curse you Arashi Inazuma! One of these days you'll see the error of your ways and come back to the White Fang!" Ry Yin yelled back into his phone, then Ry hung up and Arashi was left standing in the middle of Forever Fall wondering, '_I don't want to join back up with the White Fang, but I can't deny that some part of me wants to go back. The part that urns to hunt, even though the rest of me knows what I hunt is wrong to hunt._'

Now with his entire self in turmoil Arashi felt glum, his happiness over the full stomach vanished. Arashi continued to wonder through the forest; little did he know that Ry was heading his way. Arashi wandered to a strange temple, only one of the many he had seen while wondering this forest. Arashi couldn't ignore the fact that whatever place he was in was filled with ancient history.

Arashi wished that his past was ancient, dead and so long gone that it became myth. But now that Arashi knew that his ex partner was now alive and still keeping up with the same old White Fang business, Arashi felt like his past would never leave him alone. And that put a great burden on his heart, knowing it was his fault that Ry Yin was still alive.


	4. The Shining Beacon Pt 1 Transport

As Ruby stepped into the airship she noticed a similarity between the interior and the interior of the previous school transports she had ridden on. The space inside was relatively small; about 10 to twenty people could stand shoulder to shoulder comfortably apart, from wall to wall. Ruby chuckled when she made the comparison; it was small compared to some of the public transportations she had been in.

Out of all the vehicles Ruby had boarded to move her self around, the Titanicursion was by far the largest and heaviest transportation method around, it could transport more than 1,000,000 passengers comfortably. As Ruby did not yet know the original purpose of the Titanicursion she was still in awe about the size of it, an old war machine built during the Great War was probably the best answer.

As Ruby and Yang stood close to each other, both simply milling about, they heard a retching noise. Looking over they saw a boy looking out the window. The boy had scraggly blonde hair and was bent slightly at the waist with his head bobbing back and forth. Ruby and Yang walked up to the boy and Yang asked, "Your not going to be sick in here are you?"

"No, I'll try and keep it in." The boy answered still looking queasy. Yang moved away from him and Ruby followed, still not over not being able to be separated from Yang in public situations Ruby stuck to Yang almost like glue. Yang just went to a corner and sat on a chair. Ruby would've sat in the chair next to Yang…but it was farther away from Yang then Ruby wanted.

So Ruby decided to just stand with her hip almost touching the arm of the chair. Yang sat comfortably and looked around at the people on the airship, they too were milling about, all except for a few. One the black dressed girl sat in the corner opposite them sitting in a similar chair with her face buried in a book.

Halfway between Ruby and the girl was the doors that lead into the pilots seat. Ruby was somehow still amazed that the airships still had manual pilots, but then again Ruby hadn't heard of any automated versions. But that didn't stop Ruby wondering just how automatic their lives would get, but for now things were relatively comfortable. As comfortable as you can get with a possible second Great War looming because of a group of terrorists named the White Fang.

Ruby tried looking at the cover of the book the girl was reading, but only discovered it was blank. "That's strange." Ruby said softly to Yang, "That girl across from us is reading a book without a title."

Yang fearing another one of Ruby's episodes, laughed. Ruby's lips twitched but then went down again, so Yang said seriously, "Ruby it has a title, she just probably got a book with no title on the cover so people wouldn't know what she was reading. But why would she want to do that, I wonder? Eh doesn't matter, so Ruby…how are you feeling?"

"Oh I'm excited to be going to Beacon, I know it's school and that's sometimes boring…but I'm looking forward to the not boring parts." Ruby said.

"Really? And what parts might those be?" Yang asked, normally she would be chatting with some old friends who were going to Beacon as well, and more than likely making some new ones. But since Yang had learned from their father that Ruby had been showing very early signs of depression, Yang was being cautious to not let Ruby out of her sight.

Slowly and bit by bit Yang could see Ruby turning from a happy excited person, to someone more polite and apologetic. Now normally these would be good traits in someone who was normally eccentric and positive as well as genuine. Except for being genuine, Ruby was no longer eccentric or positive.

Sure Ruby spouted the word excitement like she was excited, but Yang had a suspicious that Ruby was only saying that word and others like it because she wanted to be them. It seemed to Yang when she really thought about it; she always caught Ruby having the far off look of recalling memories. Yang desperately wanted to know what was keeping Ruby occupied al the time, but didn't want to pry.

Ruby looked around to see the only other people not moving about, the same scrawny haired boy still standing next to a window looking out. What Ruby couldn't understand was why the boy was standing looking out of the window in the first place. Wouldn't that just make him even sicker? The last person not moving was also sitting in a chair, Ruby recognized her as the white dressed rich girl she had talked to earlier.

Eventually the scraggly blonde hair boy noticed a trashcan attached to the wall next to him. Right as the airship landed, the boy leaned over and threw up. Everyone looked okay except for him, the boy might not have been teased as everyone walked off the airship if other people had been queasy as well, but no one was so there was no stopping the comments including probably the lightest 'barf boy'. It was slightly catchy but also slightly gross, so Ruby had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't last long.

Ruby couldn't concentrate much on thoughts like that, since it was taking nearly all of her waning concentration from lack of sleep in keeping up with Yang. Who had suddenly strode forward at a rapid pace, as the two walked out of the docking station and to high flat ground Ruby stopped. At least she would've had she not been still trying to keep up with Yang.

Both of them headed straight towards Beacon's main building. They stopped at an intersection where students were passing; they carried all sorts of weapons. Ruby's eyes widened at them, but the rest of her stayed still, her expression not blank and frightening but sill and peaceful.

Some of the people began to stare at Ruby as they passed; they began to walk faster as Yang began staring back. No one was staring as soon as Yang put the pressure on him or her; Ruby in public attracted a lot of attention and all of it was unwanted. Ruby's expression and demeanor clashed strongly with her bright choice of red clothing…in fact the only color Ruby seemed to ware was red.

Yang besides her father had been the only ones to see Ruby in clothing not colored red. Almost immediately after Ruby's mother died she began wearing yellow, Yang however borrowed the color as her own, and insisted to Ruby that she goes back to wearing red. Ruby of course complied and was very crafty in how she presented her clothing.

Around the house Ruby almost always wore red, but since she had been going to school Ruby begun wearing black with her clothes. Ruby had then washed out and stopped using the red hair dye, and then her hair turned its natural color of rich smooth chocolate brown. Ruby's eyes were what really drew people's attention, if they looked hard enough; they were storm cloud gray. And if the storm got violent enough thy sky would almost match the gray in Ruby's eyes.

Most people didn't see Ruby's eyes however, since most of them weren't used to looking at such beauty. Ruby was unearthly beautiful, and with the borderline sat/excited expression she always wore, her beauty was almost always unbearable for people to look at. "Yang? What now?" Ruby asked her voice coming out infinitely more beautiful then her appearance, it should have been impossible but it wasn't.

Yang shushed Ruby and said, "People are already staring enough, I don't want you to start talking and inadvertently have all of them men and some of the girls start lusting after you." Yang sighed and put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Listen Ruby, to answer your question…well you should stay here while I go off with some friends."

Ruby's eyes understood as she said in a higher more 'normal' tone of voice, "I understand Yang, you want me to meet new people and make new friends?"

"Exactly!" Yang shouted as she ran after a group of friends, who instantly welcomed her and began chitchatting with her. Suddenly realizing that she was away from Yang, Ruby backed up into a luggage cart holding multiple cases filled with dust bottles. Ruby knocked the majority to the ground, most of them stayed in their cases but some of them rolled across the flagstones.

"Ah why don't you watch what you doing?" The white dressed rich girl yelled at Ruby. Ruby held up one of the cases and the girl snatched it from her, "Give me that! Listen don't you know who I am, more importantly do you even know what you almost destroyed?"

"Dust?" Ruby asked puzzled slightly, still sitting on the ground.

"Yes dust, the high quality material taken from a Schnee mine." As Weiss explained this she accidentally dusted Ruby with…well dust. So much of it being unexpected that Ruby couldn't help but sneeze, which caused an explosion. It blackened the ground underneath their feet, and nearly singed Weiss's eyebrows.

A girl passing wearing a white leather coat and white fedora, glanced at them. This strange new girl seemed particularly interested in the small vials of dust that were rolling around everywhere. In fact with the rich girls so distracted with scolding out Ruby, the fedora-wearing girl managed swipe a vile of every color…about 13. The girl looked up at Ruby questioningly, since Ruby had seen the girl take the vials she gave her a thumbs up.

'Ruby! Don't encourage thieving…but then again it was a very tactical theft. Take something from someone while that someone is busy yelling at another someone. It's a rule for being a good thief, at least I think that's how it goes.' Ruby thought right before a hand reached down a took a vial of red dust and handing it to the rich girl said, "There's no need to chew her out, calm down Weiss."

And with that the black dressed girl walked away Ruby looked to see that the rich girl named Weiss had taken the luggage cart, and all the collected vials inside their respective cases, and started wheeling it away. Pretty soon Ruby couldn't see the black dressed girl or, Weiss the rich girl.

Ruby lay on her back admitting defeat, "Well my attempt at making friends has failed miserably."

"Not yet it hasn't, can I help you up?" A boy asked. Only when Ruby took his hand and was pulled up did she recognize him as the puke boy.

"Hi my name's Ruby Rose, and I'm assuming…well forget about that. What is you name?" Ruby was glad she didn't call him puke boy, if she was going to make any friends she didn't want to upset them…at least not until they became solid mates. Juan simply said barf boy, laughed and the two walked across Beacon grounds.

"So what's your real name? I know it's not barf boy, people only call you that because you were the only one to get sick on the airship." Ruby said still talking in her fake voice, the one that was higher in tone more excited and generally the exact opposite of her real voice. Ruby was acting…quirky and Juan liked that. He loved talking to quirky girls; it made Juan feel like not the only awkward person in the world.

"My name is Juan Arch, short and sweet rolls off the tongue, ladies love saying it!" Juan said boasting.

"Do they?" Ruby said with a giggle. She didn't mind talking in her fake voice, it just mean that she had to pretend to be someone she truly wasn't.

"Well, no…but they will! Or at least I hope they will." Juan said somewhat embarrassing. Then an awkward silence stretched until Ruby said, "So, I have this thing."

And as Ruby said that she pulled out Crescent Rose with a flourish and nearly tore a hole in the paved ground with the tip of the blade. Juan yelped, jumped back and stammered, "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable semi automatic sniper rifle." Ruby said cocking the weapon.

"A what?" Juan asked still stunned. "It's also a gun." Ruby said patiently. "Oh." Juan said.

When Ruby asked Juan what he had, well Juan pulled out a sword. And a collapsible shield, "What do they do?' Ruby asked. "Well the sword's just a sword, the shield collapses so when I get tired of carrying it I can just…"

Ruby giggled then said, "But wait wouldn't it weight the same though?"

"Yeah it will…so do you know where we're going?" Juan asked.

"Nope. I was just following you, wait hold up I see someone we could follow!" Ruby said grabbing Juan's arm and hauling him forward.

* * *

><p>Holly Scordato stood in a shady spot under a tree holding three of the 13 stolen vials of dust. Holly was fascinated with odd objects, and since she had never seen the symbol printed on the vial before she considered it odd; therefore Holly couldn't help but grab them. Once she did however Holly felt guilty taking them since a goddess with brown hair had seen her, thankfully the heavenly figure gave her the okay and Holly took the vials.<p>

Did Holly plan to take the vials back? Maybe once she had looked at them…then again maybe not. Holly making up her mind went looking for that rich girl named Weiss. Holly found her sitting on a bench the luggage cart of cases containing dust vials sitting on the cart. Holly approached and said, "I picked up these vials, and they must have rolled away from that scene earlier."

"Yes they did, now are you going to give them back?" Weiss asked.

"Well I would like to keep them…what I meant to say was, can I buy them from you?" Holly asked seriously wishing she could. Imagine the things she, a person who could throw anything perfectly, could make with dust. All the explosive and corrosive stuff she could blow up without having to use her Aura Semblance.

Now Holly did like using her Semblance but because it was sometimes too overpowered Holly really didn't like using it, although she did often just to spare the effort it might take to solve a particular problem, which needed solving quickly. "Why of course, do you have the required amount?" Weiss asked.

Holly nodded and reached into the inside of her leather jacket pulling out some bills wrapped around the required amount of change, three quarters. Holly handed the money to Weiss saying, "Thanks, I'm glad I get to keep these."

Weiss's eyes widened and said amazed, "Wait you gave me enough money to buy two cases on this cart!" Holly simply smiled and took to cases, and carrying them under her arms walked away from Weiss.

* * *

><p>Adrian Cross chuckled as he saw some of the new arrivals at Beacon. Technically speaking he was a new arrival, but Adrian had been on and living near school grounds for years. It had all been a part of the 'containment' plan; a plan devised to help Adrian control his Aura Semblance. The plan had worked, but had forced him from attending school for two years, now at the age of 19 when the average student attending the new school year at Beacon being 17? Well Adrian felt out of place to say the least.<p>

Making him feel even more out of place was the fact that he was black, now super black mind you he had brown skin. But a much darker brown than any Mexican could pull off. This wouldn't have been a problem had it not been for the fact that there was almost no minority groups attending Beacon, he seemed to be the only…non-white person attending this supposedly prestigious academy.

Adding to the fact that kept Adrian separated from his fellow classmates was that he looked like an adult, and he might as well be. 19 years old, arguable the perfect muscular body, and a lot of tattoos; Adrian had seen some people with tattoos walking by, but he knew he couldn't connect with them bases on comparing body ink.

First of all Adrian knew of very few people who would have more tattoos than him. Adrian had tattoos covering all of his upper body, more than anyone he knew. Adrian was presentable in public however, and despite his differences from almost everyone there were a few people that happened to come along that he liked.

Adrian could connect very well with people he liked; unfortunately he didn't like many people. This was mainly due to some racism blown his way just because he was black. The racism had stopped when Adrian had basically disappeared off the face of the planet, what forced Adrian to do this was his body and it's uncontrollable nature.

Adrian had the Aura Semblance of godlike super strength, but more often than not when facing large groups of foes Adrian would be more than happy to unleash the elements. It was one of his 'skills' that Adrian had not connected to his Aura. At first the power had gotten out of control but once he began the training program at Beacon, Adrian learned to control his power. '_Hopefully I don't get stuck with an awkward team, that would just make things worse than they already are._' Adrian thought to himself as the walked where all the other students were walking, inside Beacon's main building.

Thanks to his time sometimes wondering the halls of Beacon, Adrian had overheard conversations about how four students would be selected to be a team through some kind of initiation program. Adrian didn't know how the program worked, but he sure as hell wanted to fit in.


	5. The Shining Beacon Pt 2 Dorms

The auditorium was filled with chatter; many students were filing into the room. No preamble they all formed a loose cluster in the middle of the room, right below a raised stage and mike on a pole right at the edge of center stage. Yang got a hold of Ruby's arm and surprised her. Ruby seeing it was Yang sighed with relief, "Oh it's you Yang, I so happy to see you."

"And I'm happy to see you too sis. So…make any friends?" Yang asked innocently.

"Yeah, you remember barf boy?" Ruby said, "Well he now considers himself my friend, and his name is Juan Arc."

Yang didn't question that Ruby had implied that she didn't consider Juan her friend. Yang also knew, without asking, if anything romantic was going on. Her sister wasn't the romantic type, and Yang being her older sister seeing what she had seen couldn't disagree. "Yeah I remember him, anyone else?"

Their conversation was generally unheard by others since everyone else was having conversations of their own. The crowd was made up of students that were currently about to enter their first year at Beacon Academy. A figure approached Ruby, and Yang was about to say hello when Weiss said rather loudly, "Oh, it's you."

"Oh no, it's you." Ruby said troubled. "Why can't you stop yelling at me?"

"Because you exploded and nearly singed off my eyebrows. I don't take kindly to pyromaniacs." Weiss sniffed and moved away from them. Ruby noticed that she didn't move far, so Ruby being her naturally curious self; walked up to Weiss.

"Listen, I'm sorry about exploding. Can I make it up to you, can we be friends?" Ruby asked this with her hand outstretched, as if to shake hands with Weiss, thereby making them official friends. Weiss rudely ignored Ruby and turned to the stage. Two adults, obviously by the way they dressed and presented themselves, faculty at Beacon walked onto the stage. The man, whom Ruby recognized as Ozpin spoke first.

"I'll keep this brief." He said securing his glasses on top of his nose. "You are students expecting to learn. You are about to enter one of the most prestigious academies on Remenant, and you all don't expect to study art, maths or history. You have come here to become Hunters and Huntresses, you all expect to discover new talents and skills, and hone and improve the ones you already have. I hope you all enjoy your stay here at Beacon, welcome future hunters and huntresses!"

And with that Ozpin walked off, out of the auditorium and to…well to wherever headmasters go. Another woman came to the podium, "My name is Mrs. Goodwitch, and I am very pleased to meet you. I will also keep this brief, since I realize you are all very anxious to get started. However I must warn you." Goodwitch paused momentarily before continuing. "In order for any one of you to enter into and become a student of Beacon, you need to be a part of a team. Which team will you join? Well that will depend entirely on how well you will perform with your partner. You're real partner however, will be chosen at a later time. As soon as I am done talking, the first person your eyes come in contact with, and for the next night you will be partners. Sleeping partners that is, I don't want either one of you wondering off. Is that clear?"

Once Goodwitch got everyone to say yes, at least once, she walked off the stage. Once Goodwitch disappeared the room became silent, right before almost everyone began exclaiming once they made eye contact with another person. Ruby turned and looked up, the same time that Weiss did the same. Before either of them could stop it, their eyes meet.

Weiss thought, '_Oh god, her? Why did I get stuck with her, oh she's going to get on my nerves. Aw well at least it's only for one night._' Weiss said, "Alright since neither of us likes this, I'll make a rule. Don't ask any personal question or questions." What Weiss didn't say was, 'or you'll get hurt'.

Ruby wasn't glad per say, she was just reluctant; however in time the two would eventually, after much fighting, see each other as partners. At the moment the two walked side by side, but both were extremely uncomfortable, well in the case of Ruby this was true, Weiss? Well she couldn't believe her luck, Weiss had been hoping to be pair with Blake, a nice girl she had meet before getting on the airship that had delivered everyone to the school.

As Ruby and Weiss followed the small crowd of first year students to the temporary dorm room, Yang and Blake walked at the end of the group. They had made eye contact even before Goodwitch had left the stage, or had finished speaking. Yang leaned over and said to Blake, "You do realize this is only for the night right?"

"Yeah, but who's to say that whoever we chose this night, wont be our partner for the next four years? Hmmm?" Blake asked. Yang considered this and said nothing.

Once every one was inside and finding spots near each other to set up sleeping bags, the lights were dimmed in their room. A voice came over the intercom and said, "This is a reminder to all students that once the lights dim, you have 50 minutes to prepare for bed. I know that sounds a little corny, but just deal with it."

The voice cut off and some of the chatter from earlier returned. Ruby, Yang, and Blake all decided to sleep together and Weiss had no choice in the matter. Weiss bore the burden of being with such simpletons as Yang and Ruby, because she hoped for the chance that when they all took the entrance exam…well let's just say Weiss was hoping for a partner that was not Ruby.

Blake once she had set up her sleeping bag next to Yang's sat with her legs inside the sleeping bags; her back was propped against Ruby's since the other girl had her legs inside of her sleeping bag as well. Yang looked at Weiss and raised her eyebrows, "No thanks, I'll be fine." Weiss responded to the unspoken invitation.

* * *

><p>Adrian watched the four girls silently, he wasn't stalking…just curious. Usually Adrian didn't pay much attention to anyone, but he did notice how 3 of the girls revolved around 1. The one with dark hair wearing a bow, Adrian had his suspicions but best leave those alone, was curious but slightly annoyed at the small red one.<p>

Adrian corrected this observation and noted that the dark haired girl felt somewhat friendly toward the small brown haired one. Since Adrian realized he would be sitting here all night if he kept thinking like this he turned to his temporary sleeping partner and asked, "Hey do you know the names of the 4 girls, the two blondes, black haired one, and the brunette?"

A slim girl, whom Adrian presumed to be the average first year age of 17, sat there thinking. Her skin is white, Adrian can clearly tell that she is either an albino or was really sick once…he doesn't want to ask so he sticks with albino…for now at least. She reached up her pale thin fingers and rests eight of them on the rim of her white fedora affixed firmly to her head.

When Adrian first saw the hat put on so tightly to the girls head he thought, '_I wonder why?_'

The girl sighed and put her hands in her lap, the back of one hand resting inside of palm. "Ah…let's see here. The two blondes look like they hate each other, not sure what the golden one is called but the platinum blonde? That's Weiss Schnee; I've met her only like two hours ago. Rich snob if I've ever seen one. And the black haired one…I don't know she looks kind of off to me, don't know her name anyway."

"Do you know the name of the brunette, oh and while we're speaking of names. What's yours? I'm Cross, Adrian Cross." Adrian said his tone light. He kept it that way for fear of connecting with this pale girl, and then loosing her when it came to the entrance test. However despite this fear, Adrian couldn't stop himself; he just was so confused by this girl…well to be quite honest she was unlike anyone Adrian had seen previously. And if anyone had met a lot of strange and interesting characters in their lives, it was Adrian.

"Holly Scordato, and no I don't know the name of the Brunette either. So, anything interesting about you're self that I should know? I mean…we…not…" Holly ground to a halt of embarrassment, she wasn't used to this…social scene. Even though Holly was only talking to one person, she had never asked that sort of question before.

Adrian quickly compensated with, "No, but I'll bet you'll be happy to know I don't snore!"

Instead of laughing or snickering, like Adrian had hoped, Holly simply said in relief, "Oh thank god…although I can already tell someone else will snore."

After a moment of thought Adrian decided to make gutsy move and asked, "Why's you skin so white?"

Holly just stared at Adrian instead of answering his question. Adrian was well aware of the fact that he was black…and without a suntan. When Adrian got a suntan, his skin turned midnight black. After 5 torturous seconds Holly finally replied with, "I…it was because of a disease." Holly whispered this part so quite that Adrian leaned his head in, his elbow slipped and the back of Adrian's head now rested in Holly's lap (completely by accident in Adrian's opinion), however Holly got uncomfortable because she took it as a sign that Adrian was coming on to her.

Despite her uncomfortable nervousness Holly didn't make a sound. "It was…" Adrian shushed her. "You don't have to tell me."

After saying this Adrian had the decency to remember that his head was still in Holly's lap, after realizing this Adrian promptly removed this and rested it on his hand that he propped up with an elbow. Adrian was now halfway inside of his sleeping bag, his face still stared up at Holly and she still stared down at him.

Holly blinked a few times that said haltingly, "Thanks…uh how old are you?"

"This might surprise you…oh and please don't tell anyone…I'm 19." Adrian replied in a hushed tone, several people were still up. The announcer came back on the intercom and informed all students that lights out would officially begin in 5 minutes. Holly was sitting on top of her sleeping back, with her legs outstretched.

Adrian took note of her outfit and committed it to memory, just so if he saw her again he would be able to recognize her before she was able to recognize him. Holly wore the White fedora on her head snugly fitted (Adrian still hadn't mustered up the courage to ask Holly why she wore such a large hat that covered the tope of her head), a cream colored shell necklace strung together with what looked like thread made of pure gold hung around her neck the centerpiece shell resting where her two collar bones connected right below her throat, a white leather jacket that extended to her wrists and had buttons that were buttoned down the front, black cargo pants with three small pockets on the outside of both thighs, and for shoes she had on a pair of cross-fits.

Holly blushed from Adrian's attention, and he compared the red appearing on Holly's pale cheeks to blood seeping through snow. Adrian could do that because he had seen blood stain snow before, how? Let's just say some of the people that Adrian had met…were rather violent.

Stammering Holly said, "Wow…I didn't expect either of…can I go to sleep? Or are you going to keep me up?" In truth Holly didn't want Adrian to go to sleep, she wanted him to stay up all night and weed all of her secrets out of her. However Adrian promptly apologized and said, "Good night Holly, and yes you can go to sleep now, I wont keep you up any longer."

As soon as Adrian finished this sentence the lights finally cut out. Holly sat there not daring to breathe, when she had to Holly simply did so silently.

* * *

><p>Without so much as making a sound Cero Radek sat in the corner of the room, all by himself no sleeping partner. He didn't try and start a conversation. Cero waited and waited, and after a while he saw, thanks to his enhanced vision, that almost everyone had gone to sleep…except one girl.<p>

She sat looking slightly dumbstruck almost completely silent, except for very almost imperceptible breathing. Cero noticed that there was only two other Faunus in the room, besides him self. Getting up and moving silently Cero made it almost to the doorway when the girl that was awake asked in the darkness, "Why is it always me? Every single time I meet someone that I feel comfortable with, I end up falling in love with him or her? I mean dear god…I just met this guy."

Cero suspiciously looked at her sleeping partner and felt his eyes widen, a very dark brown skinned human in the perfect (and Cero meant _perfect_) body. '_Well no wonder, almost any girl if they had that conversation with someone like that; well they'd be smitten as well_.' Cero thought as he opened the door silently and slipped into the halls like a shadow, completely ignoring Holly's comment.

He passed a few teachers with lights on his way to the outside, but Cero avoided them like shadows circumventing light. Once Cero reached the door to the outside he struggled. Cero couldn't use his arms to get it open, they were almost useless despite the many daily exercises he did to strengthen them. Cero didn't want to use his shoes, which would somehow wind up blowing the door out of its place and half a mile away.

So Cero waited and waited, it was almost and hour before the person he was waiting for opened one of the doors. Arashi looked inside quickly and whispered, "You see anyone?"

"Just a couple of teachers, or faculty they were heading in the other direction though. They had lights, looks like they're going to find any students out of bed." Cero replied. "Hey you coming day after tomorrow?"

"What's then man?" Arashi asked he realized he didn't have long; soon a teacher would come back around and check the front doors.

"The thingy…you know where the teams are decided." Cero said. "Come on man, I wasn't given the orientation, give me some details." Arashi pleaded.

"Alright, keep you voice down. Now I don't know much, in fact anything at all. However I did hear one of the teachers pass me that muttered something about preparing the launchers that shoot into Forever Fall." Cero supplied.

"Perfect, I'll be there don't worry." Arashi said, and after a quick hug disappeared back into the night. Cero only just began slipping back to the temporary dorm room when a teacher slipped out of a branching hallway and tugged on the front doors. Locked tight the teacher…or faculty member disappeared again.

Once Cero made his way back, he had a little more trouble getting back because of a cat, he stopped in the doorway; that one girl was still sitting up, finally Cero said, "Aren't you going to sleep?"

Instead of jumping with fight Holly said, "I haven't changed outfits, look I know you're a Faunus…can you leave the room while I do change? Please?"

Cero left and closed the door loud enough for Holly to hear them closing. After what seemed like thirty minutes Holly finally whispered, "I'm done, I just had to…to…" Cero didn't hear the rest because Holly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Ry Yin nearly fell asleep inside of his airship. He had been sitting there staring at Beacon's defenses, having no clue how to get through them when he nodded off. Now trying to force himself awake without caffeine, Ry stared and stared. Seeing no way through he decided to land somewhere in Forever Fall and scope things out from there.<p>

Flying over the forest Ry Yin discovered something he hadn't seen before. He had visited Beacon only once before; it had been on a heist that had went terribly wrong and Ry ended up being the one responsible for the new impenetrable security system set in place around Beacon during dark hours.

A row of what looked like metal plates were embedded into the ground right at the edge of a cliff. This cliff seemed to connect back to Beacon; Forever Fall began at the bottom of this cliff and stretched on for many miles beyond. Ry Yin took note of this feature and continued his analytical and strategic study of Forever Fall.

The Airship Ry Yin piloted was silent, but someone noticed his brief arrival down below.

Ozpin stared up at the airship as it swept away, seeming to probe the forest for something. '_But what?_' Ozpin thought to himself. '_I wonder, should I do something about this? No, not yet anyway. In order for me to use that big of a spell, I would need the councils permission first_.'

Ozpin then taking a firm hold on his cane walked back towards Beacon. He thought long and hard about what was to come, and what needed to be done. He saw three teams, and a very special girl that had enormous potential, and a very high probability of being the Guardians. The hunters and huntresses, both Faunus and human alike, that would be the best and drive out the Grimm that infested and plagued humanity; Ozpin hoped that this batch of first years would contain them, if not then he feared that the Grimm's growing strength would prove to great to defend against.

All human and Faunus life was on the brink of extinction, yet no one but Ozpin even suspected this.


	6. Forever Fall Fatal Pt 1 Relic

**Ah! I know, an Author Note too scary! The next few chapters will be really short compared to the other ones, so bare with me; or if not than I just wasted your time and I apologize.**

* * *

><p>The groups walked through the trees, some ahead some behind but all moving towards the same place. A few rows of metal pads stood out on the grass, their purpose currently unknown to the students observing them. As the first Beacon initiates came close to the metal plates, birds began to sing. As they twittered and warbled a howl rose up from Forever Fall, it took some time to travel from the forest floor all the way up to the cliff; when it arrived several people shivered.<p>

However the rest quickly realized that this was part of the test, if they were afraid of an unknown howl how would they handle the dangers they would be soon facing? The birdsong faltered and died off, someone was about to cry but in that moment said, "Well what are we waiting for? We obviously need to go into the forest to test ourselves right?" Ruby asked but since no one answered she simply said in response, "Well then I guess I'll have to lead by example."

"Wait hold on! We don't even know the rules!" "Yes! Listen to the others students, don't-" Goodwitch's plea was abruptly cut short when Ruby stepped backwards and her foot connected with the metal plate. It froze and Ruby yelped, "My…my leg's stuck!" She tried yanking it forward but that only made her other leg pull itself backward. Now both of Ruby's feet were connected to the metal plate, she found her self unable to move; Ruby could only watch as Goodwitch and then Ozpin held the other students back, especially Yang; the two teachers were unsuccessful however in holding Yang back and she rushed to stand in front of Ruby.

"What's going to happen?" Yang asked quick, just as quickly she gave Ruby a once over with her eyes assessing and checking for injuries or fatigue. Ruby was pale and slightly sickly looking, and Yang was about to mention this when Ozpin shot off, "Quickly before I forget, the rules! You must fight your way through the forest with a partner! This partner will be your partner for the next 4 years, partners will be decided when one of you makes contact with the first person you see after entering the forest." An oily spring sounded, Ruby tensed and Ozpin belted right before Ruby was sent flying out over the forest treetops, "You all must protect your partner as you search for the relics heading in the direction away from the school!"

Ruby's only thought was, '_Oh god I hope I don't break anything and slow down whoever by partner is going to be._' before she suddenly found herself hurtling towards the treetops. Ruby got confused when she banked upwards and a funny feeling entered her stomach right before she heard something that deafened her ears.

Yang stood back on the cliff just behind the metal plates, and watched as the Grimm called Nevermore swooped out of the clouds and grabbed Ruby nearly sending her to the forest. After the Nevermore corrected itself it rose back into the air with a screech of triumph. It sounded quite loud in everyone's ears, so Yang could only imagine what poor Ruby must have heard.

"No, no, no. That should not have happened." Ozpin said then walked between the metal plates and turned to face the students, once he was and had diverted the attention from the Nevermore (still flying in the distance with Ruby in one of its claws) to himself he began, "This should have been the moment all of you were to step simultaneously onto the metal plates. Seeing that more people are prepping to be launched the system would've sent you off with varying degrees of force, in fact it still will…just with one less person, it would force you to land alone and find someone completely random to be your partner…" Ozpin fell silent as everyone heard another sound coming from the Nevermore, this time it was a deafening roar.

Even Ozpin focused his attention as they saw an empty claw fall to the forest floor, and the owner of the claw fly off in a fury. Ozpin called the students, and everyone stepped next to a metal plate. Being unnerved Ozpin handed things temporarily over to Goodwitch who said, "Prepare yourselves, that Nevermore wasn't meant to be this close to the cliff. The monsters have learned, or at least they should have learned to fear the school. You wont find many Grimm near the cliff, but farther out you should find more. However I fear once you hit the forest floor, or tree you will be assaulted no matter where you land."

After a pause someone said confidently, "Well that just means that we'll have to try that much harder to get those artifacts! Right everyone?" "Yes Juan Arc is right. You will have to fight even harder than we planned to locate, retrieve and bring back not artifacts but relics. Artifacts contain magical and elemental power through dust, relics are empty symbols."

"Each one of you must take one relic, rest assured that you and your partner will be put into the same team of four. As to which other partnership you join with to be a team? That will be decided by me based on your performance, good luck everyone!" Ozpin said right before all 99 students (Ruby was already in the forest) stepped onto the plates. There were only 25 plates so once the last group, containing 24 students launched, Ozpin and Goodwitch quickly walked back to a secret room buried in the cliff where they watched through hidden cameras.

There in the room Ozpin and Goodwitch, including a rather large chunk of the faculty and teachers would assess the students' performance, and once everything was said and done everyone watching would report to Ozpin. "Do you think the Nevermore will deter any of the students?" Goodwitch asked nervously.

Thinking before he answered Ozpin said, "No I don't think so, but I also know that it will spur some of them on to do better. A more difficult challenge like this almost always yields stronger character."

* * *

><p>Lie Ren descended from the skies in a controlled manner, he used the blades on one of his pistols to descend spirally down a tree. Once Ren hit the ground he took off running, in search of a teammate or something to kill, preferably a Grimm. However there was normal predatory wildlife and Ren was worried about that happening.<p>

There was a little rustle high in the trees above Lie Ren and when he looked up he saw a pink haired girl named Nora. "Hello Ren, I guess you and I are partners?" "Of course, now come down from there before you hurt something of yours." Ren called up at Nora, right after he said this a great rustling could be heard in the foliage on the forest floor.

Ren was currently standing at the edge of a clearing with an odd looking floor, it looked like a nest and this was confirmed when a what looked like two large white and black snakes slithered into the nest and surrounded Ren. The black one struck first and Ren sent rounds into its head, he got lucky and one of the black snake's eyes darkened and then in went milky. '_I'd yell yeah go Ren! Except that he looks like he's concentrating, I'll jump in if he gets constricted._' Thought Nora still perched in her tree.

The White snake came around and Ren jumped on its head and ran along its length. With the many coils surrounding him and writhing, Ren decided to take things along a different route and decided to finish off the black snake. Running along the black snake's coil Ren came to the snake's head, with an eye missing it never saw him coming since the other one was focused on Nora. Bracing himself, Ren sent round after round into the snake's head until it collapsed.

With a shock Ren saw the white snake emerge from the black snake's mouth, and shoot straight for Nora. Unlucky for the snake however Nora at that moment chose to bring out her weapons and attack. The head of the shotgun hammer slammed right between the white snake's eyes, and the resulting percussion shot blasted the creature's brains all over the inside of its skull.

Ren caught Nora as she fell, and set her on the ground. "Thanks partner." Nora said, but Lie Ren was hopping that they could be more than partners.

* * *

><p>Pyrrha Nikos lands somewhat softly on a corpse; her weapon in spear form had been aimed downward as she had landed. Thus skewering through the heart of the unlucky Beowulf that just happened to be there, after Pyrrha pulled her weapon out of the Beowulf's body she switched her weapon apart to its shield and sword form. The shield gleaming and sparkling with a ruby body woven with solid gold highlights, the sword with its red ruby hilt and gleaming golden blade; long and curved like a scimitar shone in the late morning light.<p>

Looking up through a gap in the treetops Pyrrha saw Juan in the clutches of a Nevermore, this time it was different from the one that had Ruby, Pyrrha didn't care though which Nevermore it was because at that moment she made eye contact with Juan who yelled, "Hey new partner! Fancy getting me down from here? I can't really reach my sword or shield…sweet sword and shield by the way!"

Pyrrha smiled and decided to thank Juan later for his compliment, and of course exact payment for saving his life. Which she did right then by sending her weapon as a spear hurtling upwards it caught Juan's clothing and ripped him out of the grip of the Nevermore, which flew off to answer the distressed call of another, completely ignoring it's previously caught prey. Pyrrha thought as she went to retrieve her spear and Juan that the Nevermore calling for help was the one Ruby had injured.

After walking through the forest for about a minute Pyrrha spotted Juan hanging by his shirt clutching her spear that was stuck through his shirt. The spear was stuck in a tree truck only 10 feet off the ground. Pyrrha chuckled and asked, "Why don't just get down Juan?"

"Well for one I don't want to get my shirt ripped apart by your lovely spear, second I don't know if that Nevermore is going to come back or not." Juan said. "Oh calm down about your shirt, that spear throw probably saved your life. And as for the Nevermore, I'm afraid it was called to assist in the taking down Ruby." Pyrrha answered jumping very high into the air and pulling her spear out of the tree trunk.

Juan fell to the forest floor, but go up quickly he still had his sword and shield attached to his back. "So what called this Nevermore, another Nevermore? You can't be serious, I've never heard of anything like that before. I thought Grimm were just mindless creatures."

"Perhaps they are Juan, but I know one thing; all Grimm delight in the slaughter of humans. So unless you want Ruby and whoever her partner is to get slaughtered? You'll come with me and we'll help them." Pyrrha decided and started to go off before Juan held her back and said, "Wait shouldn't we let Ruby and her partner handle it themselves? Isn't that their challenge?"

Juan was right and Pyrrha lead him off into the forest with a different purpose, to search for and find the relics. As they walked through the forest both of them were anxious. What if they met more Grimm? Pyrrha was confident that she could take them, but could Juan? Despite all Juan's heroic words, Pyrrha doubted he could seriously handle himself in a fight. Now of course she would never say that to his face.

After a few…oh more like 7 hours, Juan and Pyrrha finally found the relics they were searching for. Along the way they had seen a path blood, carnage, gore, and uprooted smashed apart trees. Juan guessed that it must have been Ruby and whoever her partner was, judging by the claw makes Pyrrha agreed with Juan that there were Nevermore in the mix.

But Pyrrha thought back, she noticed burn ice and corrosive makes on some of the trees and divots in the ground. Who had made those? '_Certainly not a Grimm_.' Pyrrha thought as she contemplated which relic to pick, realizing that it wouldn't really matter since her and Juan would be in the same team regardless she just snatched one, and Juan did the same.

Others started arriving, students pairs of them wondering all from the way they had came. However, some students came from beyond the relic pile, these students were few, but had more injuries than any one else. While some of the students who arrived at the relic pile unscathed, the ones that came from beyond the pile were almost to seriously hurt to even move.

Juan noticed a black boy with close cut brown hair standing next to that must have been his partner, and they both shared similar injuries. The other boy was quiet and seemed to blood for shoes; so much different kinds of what must have been dried blood was caked onto his boots. Juan called out to them, "Hey! You see the people who made the gore trail?"

Almost all the students began muttering they had seen it to, in fact at Juan's voice they seemed to come out of a stupor and hurriedly grabbed their relics. Many of them began to leave and Juan immediately began to protest, "Wait! Not everyone has arrived!" "And not everyone needs to! You and your partner have your relics what are you waiting for? Come on! We don't want to keep Ozpin waiting." Juan even though he didn't want to, reluctantly agreed and went with some of the crowd to go back to Beacon.

Pyrrha followed him, and looking back she noticed a few people waiting at the relic pile. The black boy and his quiet partner, the blonde bombshell called Yang and her partner whom Pyrrha believed to be called Blake, standing a little ways away from them were two people whom she recognized instantly. "Hey Lie Ren, Nora! Come with us, we need to get back!"

"No, you go on ahead Pyrrha…we'll stay here and wait for Ruby, Weiss, Holly, and Arashi" Ren responded. Pyrrha stopped a moment and asked, "Well who are the last two?" "Just some students, nice people I hear, from these two of course." Ren said gesturing to the black kid and his partner.

With a half sad and half happy heart Pyrrha walked away back to Beacon, when in the opposite direction Ruby and Weiss were about to die.


	7. Forever Fall Fatal Pt 2 Love

Ruby was having fun; she enjoyed the walk to the…admittedly weird but certainly useful metal launchers. The first part that hadn't been fun was accidentally stepping on the launcher by accident, and having everyone practically yell at her for doing so. Whenever people yelled at Ruby, a memory rose of when she was at a school play; Ruby distinctly remember herself on a stage in the middle of a play thinking it was rehearsal, and corrected another actor while in the middle of an important scene.

What Ruby had corrected was wrong and she was right, but the way she had done it humiliated the other actor; as a result Ruby almost couldn't psychically stand shouting, and when it when it was directed at her…well she nearly lost her mind. The event had been so horrifying and had spun so out of control as well as escalated so high and so fast that Ruby sill couldn't force her self to forget what had happened.

What was less bad however happened after Ruby was snatched up by a Nevermore. The Nevermore had swooped down from the sky, and flown off with her. Ruby remembered being in its claw, and how terribly uncomfortable it was. Ruby didn't have any cuts from the monster's claws, but she suspected the reason for that was to keep the other predators who relied solely on smell of blood from finding her.

One of those predators was currently stalking Ruby, it hadn't yet seen her but she could tell that it was hungry and closing in. '_It's been almost 12 minutes and I haven't seen anyone to be my partner._' Ruby ran through a clearing and was about to climb a tree to escape the predator when she was held back by someone, "Hey slow down, didn't you see me?"

Ruby looked over into the eyes of Weiss, Ruby didn't have time to complain about Weiss being her partner, right know Ruby had something even more important and deadly to worry about. "Do you hear-" Ruby was suddenly cut off when the tree behind Ruby, and in front of Weiss at the other side of the clearing was uprooted and smashed to huge splinters.

The lower half of the immensely tall tree and been obliterated by a form that charged through it. An Ursa large and covered in fur that was riddled with wood splinters; the Ursa went on all of its legs and shook itself violently. The wood flew out of its coat of fur, and once it was done it reared up on two legs and roared. This massive Grimm looked like a bear, but was twice the average size and ten times as destructive (poor tree).

Ruby drew Crescent Rose and Weiss drew Myrnaster; both girls readied their weapons, Ruby put hers in scythe form and charged the Ursa. She failed to notice however that a red mist was in the air, all the tree shards had apparently pricked and extracted a small amount of blood from the Ursa so when the Grimm shook itself it scattered the blood into the air.

Ruby was temporarily blinded and she swung her scythe desperately, and hard. Ruby felt it connect with something violently and the force in which Ruby had to exert not to get her scythe stuck almost tore the weapon from her very hands. Ruby felt her back get drenched in blood right as Weiss barked, "Drop, roll, left!"

Ruby dropped down and rolled to the left, and felt her left arm compress from the weight that fell on it. Ruby feared to move it and called out to her partner, who was already rushing forward to help, "Weiss! I can't get it off, and more are coming! I saw this thing and its family, Weiss we need to hurry this one was much smaller compared to the others."

Weiss looked down incredulous, but when she saw the naked and raw terror present in Ruby's eyes she commented, "Oh calm down, if you're that scared at a pack of Ursa then how do you think you'll fair as a full time Huntress? Not very well, now get up and stop sniveling!" Despite Weiss's tone this was exactly what Ruby needed, and she with the help of Weiss managed get her self out from under the dead Ursa body.

Ruby and Weiss felt more than saw the Ursa, now blinded by rage, charging through the forest and trees. '_When the Ursa run blood and obliteration follows in their wake, who's to say that Grimm do not bleed?_' Ruby contemplated to her self as the Ursa pack behind them began roaring whenever one of them took down a tree, despite the many obstacles the Ursa gained on them. Weiss and Ruby however both used their Auras and moved faster and faster trying to outrun the Ursa behind them.

* * *

><p>Adrian Cross was launched into the air by a metal plate, he watched as the ground fell from him and then after a minute came rushing back up to meet him. Adrian landing in a particularly clear section of the forest area, in order to land Adrian simply activated his Aura Semblance and grabbed onto a treetop letting it bend. Once it bent to where Adrian was only 10 feet from the ground he let go and the tree nearly snapped itself in half.<p>

A Beowulf almost twice his size charged from in front of him. '_Whoa! Why the hell is this thing so big? Seriously what the fuck is going on?_' Adrian screamed inside his mind, despite the near panic attack inside Adrian was calm and calculated on the outside. Because of this the Beowulf saw a challenger, and Adrian was spared temporarily thanks in part because the Grimm began circling instead of immediately attacking. Adrian thinking for a moment grabbed the air around him, didn't focus on the temperature and flicked it at the Grimm.

A cold white ball of fire slapped against the fur of the Ursa, it was completely ineffective and Adrian realized his mistake. Because he didn't focus on the temperature, the elements created something that wasn't meant to exist…mainly because it couldn't exist, white fire that was cold. Adrian hesitated, for the second time and cursed himself. Despite all the time he had getting to use his power, he couldn't make it work the way it was supposed to.

That was mainly due to the fact that Adrian had been training to suppress it, not to enhance it. The reason for Adrian attempting to suppress it was so he could be accepted back into society. He hadn't told Holly this the night before, even though he wanted to. Adrian wanted to pour his heart out to Holly; in his mind Adrian knew this was stupid because he had only met her. However in his heart Adrian yearned to be closer to Holly, in any way.

The Beowulf charged and Adrian blacked out, and woke up. It was the morning of the entrance test. After shaking off the bad dream Adrian saw that he had awoken in the same room he had gone to sleep in, lying in the exact same spot next to Holly, who was facing away from him. Or facing towards him, Adrian couldn't tell mainly because she had put her entire self inside the sleeping bag.

Adrian suspected that the same disease that made Holly an albino had also done away with her hair. Adrian had clearly noticed, but hadn't mentioned, the fact that Holly had no eyebrows to speak of. Adrian hadn't noticed this until his had fell accidentally into Holly's lap. It had been a bit shocking at first, and that was why Adrian had been momentarily frozen when he landed in Holly's lap.

Actually taking the time to do so, Adrian looked over and saw that Holly was waking up…and pulling out of her sleeping bag. Adrian made his move and closed his eyes and resumed the position he last remembered himself in. Without so much as a sound or movement of any kind Adrian lay there silently.

He didn't move however so eventually Holly must have seen and guessed that he was awake, because she started stuttering. Adrian bolted and sat upright, he stared at Holly; she had her white fedora on and a white T-shirt with sleeves that came down to her elbows. Holly stood up hurriedly and Adrian's eyes finally found what she was wearing on her legs, the same pair of cargo pants as yesterday. Except when Adrian looked closer he saw something fundamentally different about how Holly's pants were made when compared to regular cargo pants.

The fabric seemed to be molded to Holly's skin and the pockets didn't stick out but seemed to belong there; sitting on her thighs; which despite their size Adrian liked looking at quite a lot. Adrian was completely ignoring Holly's stare and continued to stare at Holly's legs (out of some curtsy he wasn't looking at her thighs anymore). Adrian saw the same ample and curvy musculature in Holly's calves that existed in her thighs.

"Adrian?" Holly said nervously right as Adrian leaned forward and was about to brush the tops of her bare feet, just to feel the skin stretched over the veins that were plainly visible there. When Holly spoke it forced Adrian to look rationally at what he was doing. He was basically undressing and devouring someone he had just spoken to six (he found the exact time by the clock affixed to the far wall of the room) hours previously. And before they had even first spoken to each other, Adrian had never seen Holly before in his life and Holly hadn't seen Adrian before in her life.

Both of them now stood facing each other, neither one of them could meet each other's eyes and both for different reasons. Adrian knew what he seemed like to Holly, a creep. And Adrian had been a creep before, and hadn't liked it afterwards. Thanks to this he could tell when he was being a creep to someone.

Adrian could almost recall in perfect detail when his mother had lectured him on why he shouldn't creep on the opposite sex, especially the opposite race (neither Adrian nor his mother had known about Faunus then, so when Adrian's mother said this she meant white girls). Adrian also remembered when his father beat him when he had caught Adrian creeping on some poor girl, especially after his mother had told him not to.

Holly spoke first, "Good morning, you seem quite happy!" "I…I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable." Adrian apologized, even though both her and him knew he really didn't mean it. Even though she wouldn't admit it Holly enjoyed Adrian looking at her even more than Adrian liked looking at her.

Staying silent Holly finished dressing by putting on her jacket and slipping on her socks and shoes. Adrian got dressed to, but the only thing he did was put on his checkered flannel shirt, her already had on his shorts and shoes. Right after he put it on Adrian realized that Holly had been staring at his half naked body and hadn't said a thing, or even apologized for doing so. This made Adrian feel one of two things, nervousness or excitement. But when Adrian really dug deep he found how he really felt about what had just happened; he was scared that he was going to kill Holly if she got two close.

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><p>"Hey dude?" Cero Radek asked, "How did I even end up being your partner? Almost everyone who got paired up as sleeping buddies got paired up as long term partners."<p>

"Well originally I was paired up with Holly." Adrian said solemnly. "Ah, bro wasn't she the one that ran past us with Arashi? That dude looked pissed and out for blood; scared the hell out of me. And I don't even want to think what he said to Holly to make him follow him." Cero said in response.

Both of them were standing at the pile of Relics, which wasn't a pile anymore. Pillars stood where relics had been placed, most of them were empty now save for four. Adrian and 3 other students had stayed behind to wait for the two partnerships still in the off in the forest. "What do you think is taking them? My name is Ren by the way, and my partner's name is Nora."

"Hello Ren, Nora, it's nice to meet you both." Adrian said briefly and then fell quite; contemplating an image he had seen that morning. "As for why they're gone, when we passed one group they looked like they were about to kill something, so I'd say their being held up by a group of nasty, particularly annoying Grimm."

Both Ren and his partner, a pink haired girl the same height as Holly (and having the same cheerful blunt outgoing personality), were sitting with their backs to the pillars where they had gotten their relics. Ren and Nora's relics were both chess pieces. Ren's was the king, and Nora's was the queen.

"So Adrian, about Holly…you liking her so far man?" Cero asked whispering, genuinely curious about how Adrian felt about not being Holly's partner. In fact Cero asked this as well and Adrian responded with, "I think I may more than like her man, I just don't want to admit my true feelings, because if I do I'll probably kill her. If I admit my feelings I'll want to be with her, and that would be a mistake."

Cero nodded like he understood, "Right…hey speaking of your power, what you did before was impressive! And you were very controlled, why are you so nervous about your power when it comes to Holly? You seemed to control it pretty well when you were fighting those Grimm."

"Yeah well Holly's different, I don't know if this is a mistake or not…but I love Holly! God damnit I shouldn't, I just met her but dude! I can't get over her…she's hot!" Adrian exclaimed not loud enough for the other two people here to hear of course. "I'm seriously worried right now, I want her to come back. But at the same time I should be more worried about you."

"Oh?" Cero said raising an eyebrow, "And why's that? I'm your partner for the next four years, why not get a hold of Holly while you sill can?"

"Because it wouldn't be very respectful to you, I know you Cero and I also respect you. We haven't really begun to know each other on a deeper more trusting level, and if we expect this partnership to succeed, we need to get to do that." Adrian explained. "If I were to focus on snagging Holly as a girlfriend, then I wouldn't be focusing on building our relationship. A relationship with Holly would be purely emotional and more than likely sexual as well."

"And what's wrong with that? Sounds great!"

"Yeah except for that fact that I would be too distracted by her body…and the rest of her that I wouldn't be able to save her life." Adrian admitted this just as all four of them sitting at the relic location heard people walking through the forest. When they stood up and turned and looked only three seemed to walk through the trees.


	8. Forever Fall Fatal Pt 3 Obssession

**All right, calm down. This will be the last author note for a wile I promise. I just needed to inform you that the chapter length will now (after this chapter) be going back up to it's original length of 3,000 words, apart from that I would like some reviews on how I'm doing. Make about anything, just gimme some feedback. I would appreciate it and honestly? Feedback does help me improve! And if I improve the writing will get better; that's a win win**

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><p>The rhythm of Ruby's feet pounding against the ground smoothed and studied, as well as increased in tempo as the ground level. Just a moment before both Ruby and Weiss had come upon strange landmark, rocks seemed to be buried underneath the ground; that or they forced their way up and created uneven hills.<p>

At first Ruby had been afraid that the uneven terrain would slow them down, but it seemed to affect the pack of Ursa more than them. Not only did it slow the Grimm down considerably but it also made the angrier. Their howls of bloodthirsty could be heard for miles now, so many going off so loudly that just as Arashi and Holly made eye contact a great distance away they heard them.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Holly screamed almost with surprise. Despite the sound sounding like a great many monsters, Holly didn't shrivel up in fear she knew that she needed to prove herself. "Wait don't answer that, I'll probably find out myself."

"What do you mean? You intend to go and find out what made that sound?" Arashi asked, for the great Ursa howling had stopped and the forest was somehow more silent than before. No animals stirred in Forever Fall, for fear of the Grimm had driven all but the most untouchable of wildlife. However in the aftermath of the howling even the trees seemed to be afraid to even creak. Arashi strained his expertly attuned Faunus ears, he heard nothing but Arashi could still remember the exact direction the sounds had come from.

"Yeah I do, got to prove ourselves right? What if those monsters are attacking another partnership, if that is true than think how much better our performance will look of we go and help them!" Holly insisted, what she didn't tell Arashi was that she knew the exact reason why the Ursa had been howling. Being an expert in all things concerning the Grimm Holly knew and recognized the exact howling for what it meant.

The Ursa were indeed following a partnership of students, who else would be stupid enough to even venture out here? What Holly knew for a fact that an Ursa, or any Grimm for that matter never got that angry unless they were literally on the warpath. No Grimm howled with that much fervency or great volume, unless they had seen one of their own kind slaughtered. Grimm were very connected to each other, no Grimm was more connected to another than to a Grimm of the same species.

Thanks to this fact Holly deduced that the pack of Ursa were currently focusing on two threats, assuming it was only on partnership in danger, and taking them out. A Grimm if not provoked openly would stay away from humans, that's only because the Grimm knew the general masses to be guarded against them. And thanks to multiple Grimm slayings, which unknown to the hunters the entire Grimm population currently writhing on Remnant had felt.

This weariness was abandoned when the Grimm saw someone encroach upon his or her domain (yes there were confirmed genders among the Grimm, Holly didn't like the implications of that), the current domain being Forever Fall. Now the Ursa were more docile they wouldn't attack any human or Faunus unless approached. Even then if a human or Faunus was to approach a pack of Ursa the only Grimm that would attack the unspeakably stupid person would be the one they approached directly.

This instinct of the Ursa was completely overridden and changed when a pack of the witnessed one of their kind being slaughtered, then they went into a calculated rampage that is best know for driving the human and Faunus races to the edge of extinction. It's what the Grimm is most commonly known for, as Holly knew however that wasn't their most dangerous weapon. Holly rushed off yelling to Arashi, "We have to go see what's gong on anyway! We obviously landed beyond the relic pile perhaps whoever is being chased by those Ursa knows where the relic pile is!"

"How do you know it's called a relic pile? Ozpin or Goodwitch didn't tell you did they?" Arashi commented as they ran through the forest. The sound had only been a few miles off and the Ursa had fell silent, Holly knew this most likely meant that the Ursa knew they had their prey cornered. When this happened the Ursa would become silent and stalk their intended victims, that's how the Great Slaughter of old had began; a great force of Ursa weeding their way into society and then once the rest of the Grimm arrived they struck.

Holly shook her head of this; both her and Arashi had finally come upon the Ursa right as they discovered two girls hiding just outside of the trees they were in. Nor Holly or Arashi could see what was beyond the trees…well they could've if they had just moved sideways until their view wasn't blocked by the massive Grimm, but out of fear of sending the Grimm into an even more impotent rage they dared not.

One of the girls screamed and an Ursa roared, suddenly as if waiting for this queue half the Ursa pack went beyond the trees…and the other half turned towards Holly and Arashi. Once of them stood a ways off from the rest of the pack, it looked to be the largest of the Ursa. "Is that the leader? I wonder how he ended up bigger than the rest…" Arashi thought aloud. '_Yeah keep wondering, no solid evidence has ever been discovered as to why or how or when packs started forming, but now it seems that all Grimm types have packs._' Holly thought to herself, remembering the long and complicated book she had read detailing the pack patters of all known types of Grimm.

Holly knew of a small few types that had either gone unmentioned or undiscovered, and she had learned their pack patterns through careful study. Granted after a while Holly nearly went mad, she hadn't gained a complete knowledge of everything about the known Grimm Holly know knew everything there is to know about every Grimm, even the 'undiscovered' ones. These mysterious Grimm had passed over the perception of every mortal, well almost every one thanks to Holly.

However despite knowing all this Holly really disliked telling anyone, it made her cringe when she saw the stupidity among many humans and Faunus when it came to their greatest threat. With the recent uprising of a group calling themselves the White Fang, about 30 years previously, many of the population of Remnant began to suspect the opposite race. Humans began to distrust Faunus, and that was only started about 15 years ago.

15 years ago had seen the White Fang nearing its goal of securing peace and more equal right for the Faunus. This was a history lesion currently running through Holly's mind, she always thought of things like this as she fought. Holly inside wasn't a very violent person, but she knew that in order to improve and evolve and ultimately break away from the shell she had become when she had cancer, she had to become someone fierce.

And who was fiercer than a Huntress? No one was fiercer, Holly had searched and searched but nowhere in the history books or recordings of Remnant was there any mention of a more iconic or fierce icon than the two first Hunter and Huntresses. In total there had been four, two Hunters and two Huntresses. It was said that they formed a Hunter pair and Huntress pair, each member was everything the other was not; but each of them matched each other in skill.

That was the standard that all Hunter and Huntress training had been based off of ever since the still hotly debated end of the Great War. Holly slew her second Ursa singly handedly, Arashi and her had been separated and they had been desperately fighting their way towards each other. When they finally slew the Ursa between them, they finally heard the silence again. What worried Holly and Arashi most was the fact that they couldn't hear the two girls fighting at all.

Deciding to check things out Holly went behind Arashi as both of them headed through the blood soaked patch of trees. When Arashi came upon the spot where the two girls and the rest of the Ursa pack lead, he stopped hand held up a fist. Holly knew this was a military single for company halt, and so she didn't walk past him to see what had caused Arashi to stop.

Holly did this because she knew that trust was needed in a partnership, but the real reason she did it was because she idolized the first Huntresses. Holly, all her life had wanted to be exactly like them, however when she had been diagnosed with cancer and had went through the ensuing depression that had followed Holly attempted to commit suicide multiple times. This was after her grand idea of becoming a Huntress had dwindled; the depression had contained a feeling of self-loathing that had torn down Holly's self esteem until almost nothing was left except self-loathing.

To this day Holly was still battling the self-loathing and depression, it was still there and the weight of it hadn't changed. Holly had managed to move it aside thanks to her obsession of learning everything there was to know about Grimm. Arashi signaled to Holly that she could now move beyond him and she did, but only a few feet beyond before she stopped completely. In front of Holly was a great hole.

A perfect circle naturally formed, it fell through the earth with straight and almost smooth sides. Holly stared at it and realized that she remembered coming here to this exact spot before. Holly knew all there was to know about Grimm, but she didn't like to remember how she had come across all that knowledge.

When Holly had seen her first Grimm she had become obsessed, to this day Holly still couldn't figure out why her mind had zeroed in on the mysterious creatures called Grimm. Sometimes (when no one was around) Holly would have very heated debates with herself about why she had become obsessed, but what Holly knew for a fact was that she had made Grimm knowledge her obsession.

Luckily for her parents the obsession prevented Holly from focusing on her depression and committing suicide. Right when the obsession had started Holly had been about to die from cancer. When Holly began…doing whatever she had done to acquire all the knowledge of all there ever was to know about the Grimm, it focused her mind. And eventually Holly's body focused and moved away from her hospital bed and out into the world.

Right before she left the doctors diagnosed Holly with clinic insanity, however the next morning Holly had disappeared, much to the worry of her mother. Her father on the other hand had seen Holly depart and had confronted her, he had been told by his daughter of her newfound obsession. And despite the recent encounter with a Grimm, Holly's father let her daughter indulge in her obsession.

It was a year ago that Holly had come out of her obsession and back into her parent's life, when she did however she discovered her period and the fact that she was a woman now. Holly had grown up, her childhood had been all spent up when she had gotten cancer, and her teenage years had been consumed in her obsession. Even though Holly was now 17, as of the current day, she had started her adult life a year ago.

Holly being at the maturity level of an adult plus a year of experience acting and being an adult was naturally above even some of the most mature girls her age. This fact separated Holly from her class mates even more than the fact that she always wore he fedora, and had paler than albino skin. The second reason wouldn't have been a problem had Holly told anyone who had asked the real reason why her skin was so white.

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><p>"Why is you skin so pale?" Arashi asked. They were now away from the pile of dead Ursa corpses and heading back towards the relic pile. The two girls, who were know known as Weiss and Ruby to Holly and Arashi, were currently leading the way. Holly was stunned at the question, but she answered Arashi honestly mainly because he was her partner, "I was diagnosed with malignant cancer when I was 7 years old."<p>

Arashi looked at his partner Holly with concern, and asked, "You don't sill have it do you?" "I don't know, I became obsesses with something it took my mind off the cancer. I guess I might still have it, but that was years ago! The doctors said it was malignant, that means deadly! They also said that when I was 7, I'm 17 now." Holly responded.

Holly was about to tell Arashi more when she realized that they were coming upon the relic pile. "Alright partner! This is it, time to choose our relics!" Arashi said them beamed a genuine smile at Holly, it held hope for her getting better and had nothing to do with what he had just said. '_I've told him so little, and yet he still is very concerned and wished me better._' Holly thought. She had never met someone like Arashi before. Holly wasn't romantically inclined towards Arashi; it's just that every time Holly had told someone anything about what had happened to her after the age of and at 7 years old, they demanded to know more.

Arashi on the other hand hadn't pressed Holly for more information about it, and Holy had a feeling that he wouldn't anytime soon. As Arashi and Holly grabbed the last two relics and the last remaining group of students trudged back to Beacon, Ruby could be visibly seen with a limp. When Holly asked if they should stop, Weiss Ruby's partner insisted that they all went back to Beacon, whatever test they had just completed it was finished.


	9. Forming Teams

And when the three partnerships got back to Beacon, they weren't greeted as they expected to be. Before they could get back however the three partnerships had to get passed the cliff preceding Beacon, and that served as a border separating the woods of the school from the Forever Fall forest. This would've been easy, just by activating the Aura Semblances when standing at the base of the cliff the students would be transported to the metal pads.

In fact Ren and Nora have no trouble at all getting up the cliffs, Holly is about to follow them when she realizes that her partner Arashi isn't by her side. Ruby is now lying on the ground; her breath comes in pain filled gasps. Arashi stands only a few feet away from her worry and concern showing on his face, it however isn't Ruby that Arashi directs this question to, "Are you alright?"

Holly responds with, "Yeah except for the blood all over me…I'm alright. Thanks for asking, but what about Ruby? Hey, Weiss was it? What happened back there, with the Ursa…how'd you survive?" "Through shear luck, it had nothing to do with our fighting skills, even though Ruby put up a valiant fight. No one of them got her, and after that it all became a desperate blur." Weiss's eyes brimmed with tears as she kneels down and examines Ruby. Weiss doesn't let the others see them though, she needs to keep up her image and Weiss does this by saying almost without emotion, "Alright, she's not injured too badly. Nothing a good pop into the healing center and a good nights rest wont fix."

Holly fighting the urge to take of her fedora and scratch her head, all that would accomplish would be a bloody scalp, looks up the cliff and states, "How do those metal plates, if that's what they really are, work anyway? I mean just this morning they launched us into Forever Fall with…such power! And now they act like teleports, seeking out our Aura and moving us on top of them." Holly sighed stuffing her hands inside the two outer pockets of her white leather jacket. "I just don't get how they work."

A feeling came over Arashi as he looked down at Ruby, obviously suffering…it filled him with fear, for Ruby. Anger, at whatever had done this to her. And above all, a vengeful protectiveness that urged him to take Ruby into his arms, and protect her well being at all costs. Arashi reeled back a moment and thought. 'W_hat is this feeling? I don't even know her, and yet I'm feeling protective of her?_'

In the end everyone, including Arashi went on ahead to Beacon. Weiss had finally convinced everyone to leave and let her, Ruby's partner, try and help Ruby. She even convinced Arashi, who had seemed to form an attachment to Ruby. Weiss didn't like this attachment, she saw too many signs that looked like love at first sight; and Weiss had awful experiences with love at first sight. In fact, more than once Weiss had experienced the uncomfortable situation where she would meet someone, feel no connection to them whatsoever, but they would genuinely fall dumbstruck in love with her.

As Weiss stood over Ruby, waiting for her partner to solve this little problem of hers on her own, Weiss thought about what had happened in her previous life with love. It always had the distinct impression to Weiss, every time she would meet someone and they would fall in love with her, it almost always felt staged. It was barely 6 months previously when Weiss ran into a much older man, with red hair a black top had and white/gray trench coat with black trimmings.

This man despite being older than Weiss but what she guessed must have been only a few years, he had tenacious spirit about him; a professional that wasn't afraid to stir things up. Weiss didn't know this man had been and still was Roman Torchwick, the leader of the dreaded group the White Fang, and therefore Weiss became quite taken with him. Looking back on that brief experience with the mysterious man Weiss thought she could see his face, when in reality all she could see was his face and Weiss nearly ended up running into the door as they reached Beacon.

Ruby, limping worse than before and now currently had one leg completely covered in slowly drying blood, put one hand on Weiss's shoulder holding her back and said, "Stop-p day dreaming W-Weiss." Her stutter was painfully obvious and almost every student had heard Ruby; inside the doors that Weiss and Ruby were about to enter was a grand room full to the brim with people, namely students and a few teachers.

Muttering barely making its way into her consciousness, and barely passing through the incessant buzz running through her head, Ruby suddenly found herself in a room. When she blinked away the tears of pain she realized that she was in the exact same room she had been in two days. This had been where headmaster Ozpin and assistant headmaster Mrs. Goodwitch had addressed them, and would apparently be where the teams were announced.

Ruby wasn't paying much attention because her senses were being blocked with an incensing buzzing/pounding noise, not until later lying in a hospital bed, reading her track record does Ruby realize that in that moment she was suffering from the dreaded pain induced migraine headache. Ruby did however heard team CRNL announced, and a team dubbed FLSH. At the second mentioned team Ruby's head perked up, "The next team will comprise of partnerships RW and BY, to form team RWBY! The team members are; Ruby Rose, Yang Xaio Long, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee!"

Goodwitch was announcing the teams and at the announcement of team RWBY…well Ruby felt awed, Ruby was however speechless when she heard that she was going to be team leader. Ruby looked to her right and gave Weiss a hug, Weiss sort of returned it; but all she was doing was keeping Ruby upright so she didn't collapse and cause a panic. "The next team will compromise partnerships IS and CR to form team, ICRS! The team leader is Arashi Inazuma, and his team members are; Adrian Cross, Cero Radek, and Holly Scordato!"

Arashi, Holly, Adrian, and Cero all locked gazes one with each other. All of them were thrilled to finally have a team. Cero's eyes however shifted suspiciously when Yang and Blake walked over to Weiss and Ruby. His semi-scale like pale skin would've gleamed with sweat, it was starting to get hot in the room and whenever Cero was near someone he distrusted…things tended to get very heated. Cero's very light teal hair was currently combed back flat so it wouldn't get in his eyes.

Yang saw Cero looking at her, and mistaking the look for one of curiosity excused herself from her group and started walking in Cero's direction. Cero almost turned around and impaled Yang on his tail; it was certainly long and sturdy enough to do so. But, sadly in Cero's eyes, he never got the chance; Yang stopped 10 feet away, '_Damnit my tail's medium sized, it's five feet long not ten!_' and said, "Hello there, I know we're not on the same team, but glad to know that someone who isn't…so afraid of hiding who they are will be attending this school."

It was obvious to everyone within earshot that Yang was referring to Cero's obviousness; he was Faunus and no matter who said what, no one would believe anything otherwise. And in fact, Cero liked it that way; it pleased him that he didn't have to hide, although he suspected that the reason no one had the guts to bully him was thanks to his tail. It was of course a teal-colored scaly lizards tail…only medium sized and five feet long.

"Uh…I like your sweater! It's a nice blue…the collar adds some style…I'll leave now." Yang said rather awkwardly and left, Cero congratulated himself inside, but then chastised himself. Why didn't he trust this girl? What was so wrong with Yang that Cero couldn't bring himself to properly talk to her? Cero didn't know, but he had a feeling like he should find out what it was and then immediately try and find a way around it.

That way Cero Radek wouldn't have to go through school, and classes almost every day for the next four years, worried about someone in his year that he didn't trust. When Cero thought about it, the distrust was small and slight, he even found himself attracted to Yang; which was most peculiar to him, Cero always put himself down as gay. Mainly because he never felt any attraction towards the opposite sex, but now that Cero was getting that 'warm' vibe from yang it didn't exactly sit well with his conscious.

What the warm feeling did to Cero was give him just the right amount of stupid, but necessary courage to make up his mind to ask Yang out immediately after all the teams were being announced. The second to the last team was announced some time later, "This team will be compromised of partnerships JP and NR to form team JNPR. The team members are; Juan Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkryie, and Lie Ren with Juan Arc being team leader!"

When Juan heard this he was shocked and overjoyed, but those two feelings were quickly replaced with nervousness and anticipation. It was the first time in Juan's life that he had been put in a position of leadership, and since this position would last for the next four years, Juan really didn't want to mess it up.

Cero stood on the other end of the room debating furiously with him self on how he was going to accomplish the feat of asking a girl out, the girl being Yang who hadn't had the best impression of him. What disturbed Cero most was the fact that he was normally quiet (to not draw attention), discreet, cold and usually kept to himself. It seemed that his body alone really wanted to adjust and move out of this shell that was the isolation that Cero had imprisoned himself in. '_Damn these desires, I always heard about them from the incredibly stupid and hormone ridded jerks back at my old school, but I never quite grasped them. Although I must admit to myself…but no I must admit to Yang first, that way I wont be as awkward as I know it'll be._'

Finally making up his mind and quick forming a plan, waited until Yang chanced a glance at him; and once she did Cero curled a finder at her, and smiled in a way that wasn't seductive but Cero had a bad feeling that it was _very_ seductive. Yang's eyes widened, and for a moment Cero thought that he let his tongue slip; no matter what he always kept it inside his mouth. The five-foot long tail, and the semi scales covering his skin was enough for people, and besides Cero felt uncomfortable about his tongue.

He had used it once in a truth or dare situation; he had picked dare and some guy (obviously drunk) dared him to insert his tongue inside a girl's pussy and 'taste and wiggle' for a 5 seconds. The girl the guy pointed to immediately blushed, but stammered and said yes; meaning that she would allow it. Cero had become even more embarrassed on the outside, but on the inside he was practically singing. At the time, when Cero was 15, he had been fascinated with girls and their various private body parts.

He hadn't grown up with parents long enough into his teenage years for them to teach and give him restriction about puberty, and to keep away from girls. Since Cero was a Faunus that meant that virginity was 10 times more important, since Faunus were part animal and many of them had quite long tails that could be used for pleasuring it was taboo for a Faunus to lose his or her virginity to someone they weren't married to. Even more so than if it had happened to humans in fact.

Cero shook his head as he followed yang to the door, he tapped Yang on the shoulder clearing his throat, "Excuse me, I know we've just met but would you like to go out on a date with me?" Blake saw what was happening from a distance and steered Weiss and Ruby through a different door so Yang and Cero wouldn't be interrupted. Yang only slightly stunned asked in return, "Oh and why would you want to do that?"

Cero thoughts slowed considerably when he heard this, he knew that his answer was very important so forcing himself to say with a calm he really didn't have, "Just wanted to se if I was interested, and besides wouldn't it break up the monotony of early classes?" An innocent enough answer, but both Yang and Cero could tell that it wasn't the truth. Yang accepted the date with somewhat of an awkward smile, and then walked off to find the rest of team RWBY.

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><p>Yang walked down the hall almost wringing her hands, '<em>I just got asked out by a Faunus! That makes me nervous, out of all the cute and hot boys there why did one of a different race have to ask me out? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but did I get noticed at all by any human in that room?<em>' Yang thought this nervously right before she came upon a door, which was partway open. The reason Yang stopped at this particular door was because she could hear he teammates some distance behind it.

When Yang opened the door however she found out that they were whispering, the whispers died down as soon as Yang entered but Ruby started right up with, "Yang so good to see you! Now then, all 4 team members of team RWBY are hear so I figure it best that we all begin." Blake looked at Ruby skeptically until Ruby reminded her that she was the leader. "Right then, Blake you start. Tell all of us a little about yourself. I know that you probably tell yang more, since she's your partner, but it's good to let us know as well."

"And why's that?" Weiss asked. "Wouldn't this team succeed if both partnerships just worked for themselves?" "Yes, while that may make sense in your head, stop a moment and really think about it." Ruby said, "If we did that and didn't pay attention to the fact that we, all four of us, are now in a big partnership…then team RWBY wouldn't last long. If we did that and focused on our partnerships then it would be team RW and team BY, not team RWBY."

When Ruby concluded everyone in the room fell silent, they were all in a temporary room that was away from everything else. It would be tomorrow that all the teams would be assigned official dorm rooms for their first year at Beacon. Blake finally broke the tense silence with, "I can't believe that we'll be starting classes in like, three days." She cleared her throat and looked at Ruby directly, "As for your question; I like books, being by myself, and also being very professional in everything I do. So please, if any of you are inadequate please stay out of my way until you can be of equal skill to me. That way we don't stumble over each other, but lift each other up."

Ruby nodded said thanks, and then turning to Yang asked, "And you sis, I think we would all like to know…what was that about a few minutes ago? That Faunus grabbed you just as you were about to leave, did he ask you something?" Yang answered with, "Yeah, he asked me out on a date. I said yes, mainly because he seemed very nervous and I wanted him to have as much a good first moment at Beacon as I want to have."

Without even being turned to Weiss said, "I think we shouldn't waste anymore time on this. We should be getting our nights rest it's late. If we're going to turn into proper Huntresses we need our sleep." At Weiss's insistence everyone, including the normally eccentric Ruby agreed to go to sleep. In fact, Ruby was actually the first one to go for a bed and fall asleep. Yang looked at her and worried inside, on the outside however she kept it hidden with a soft sisterly smile. She knew she needed to start trusting the two teammates, but some things Yang just couldn't bare to share with anyone about Ruby.

* * *

><p>Juan closed the door and yawned, he had taken the initiative and asked Ozpin which room team JNPR would be staying in. Since he had been one of the first to ask Ozpin figured it out and gave Juan a room number. Despite being tiered him self, Juan lead the Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha along the corridors of the school until he reached the room they were in now. It was comfortable looking with four-poster beds that looked like they could be stack on top of each other to form two separate bunk beds.<p>

But instead of doing that Juan just separated the beds and put two close to each other on one side of the room and the other two on the other side of the room. "That good team?" Juan asked, still nervous but feeling a little more confident about what he was doing. Ren chose one bed and dragged Juan with him. "Hey what-" Juan started to protest but was interrupted by Ren saying, "Hey man listen, why not give the ladies that side and we'll take this side. In fact why don't we each take our own corner? Each wall is blank that we can decorate it how we like with posters and such; partners will be opposite each other. How does that sound?"

Juan stopped not sure what to say, when he realized that they didn't have to do it that way. Ren was simply making a suggestion and Juan upon realizing this said, "Oh that's a good idea, let's do that instead, sound good ladies?" Both Nora and Pyrrha nodded and moved to their respective corners. And team JNPR settled in for the night, they all thought of one person. Ruby Rose, all of them wanted to become friends with her, but all of them didn't know how to approach her.

First off Ruby was almost too beautiful to look at, although her sister was much worse since she was older than her sister. But by the looks of thing Ruby wasn't far off from Yang, either way the two sisters were neigh unapproachable. But thanks to the courage (however confused or misguided it may have been) of a single Faunus they all had hope that they too could approach the beautiful sisters and make friends with them.

* * *

><p>Holly walked down a hallway following directions from Arashi; he had found a room right next to the one Adrian and Cero would be staying in. Why Arashi had them sleep apart on the night of team ICSR's forming…she didn't know. Nor did she want to know, mainly because Arashi was the leader, and being a leader forced you to make decisions that you couldn't always share the reasons to.<p>

When Holly had left the assembly room she had excused her self, Arashi seeing that Holly needed to take care of something personal let her go off. But it looked like Adrian wanted to ask Holly something, so she hurried back. Once Holly followed the instructions she found two rooms one right next to the other one, Knocking on one door Holly discovered Adrian. "Ah Holly, I wanted to ask you something. What do you like?" Holly's answer was immediate and honest, "Explosions and training!"

Adrian chuckled and said, "Wow, you're one hell of a girl…you know that right?" Not letting her answer and going back inside, Adrian meant it as a compliment. Holly took it as one and began blushing, she couldn't believe that her crush had asked her what she liked…what did that mean? Did Adrian want to get with Holly; Holly immediately shook her head at such a notion. They had barely met and no one she knew jumped in on something that quickly.

Going to the door next to that one she knocked, and Arashi answered saying, "There's no need to knock, it's just me in here." "That's true, but only now that I can see that. For all I know someone else couldn't been in there with out." Holly countered to which Arashi said, "I would never deceive you like that, listen Holly I'm here to protect you. And I will shelter you if I must…but above all I'll be your friend, but only if you want met to."

Arashi smiled when he said then and Holly really believed him. Despite being the only girl on a team of all guys, she felt comfortable with two of them. Arashi made a promise that Holly knew he would keep of protecting her and being her friend, Adrian Holly's crush seemed to be taking somewhat of a fancy with Holly, and that made her excited and a little hopeful for one more person in her life that she could trust.

Now Cero on the other hand, Holly wasn't so sure about. She brought out her phone and texted him the message: **Hey not to be weird or anything, but I don't really feel comfortable around you.** Almost immediately holly got back: **You know what? What if you bring someone and we'll go on a double date, you and whomever you choose and me plus Yang.** Holly sent back her agreement, but then realized her dilemma.

Who should she ask? Holly considered asking Adrian, but what would that look like? The seemed to be coming on to each other, would Holly asking Adrian to go out on a double date with another couple make Holly seem desperate? Holly considered this and finally decided that she would explain things to Adrian. Holly making up her mind went over next-door and knocked. This time Cero answered, seeing it was Holly he called quietly, "Adrian Holly wants to ask you something."

Obviously Cero had guessed what Holly wanted to do, and he sent Adrian over to Holly. "Yes?" "Hello Adrian…uh, I just wanted to ask you if you would be willing to go on a date with me. If you would like to the I must tell you, it's only because Cero asked me to go on a double date with him."

Adrian looked over his shoulder, and then moving forward shut the door slightly. "And I'm assuming Cero's going way in over his head with a girl he just met? Yeah that's more than likely the case, so yes. I will go with you on a double date with Cero and…who's this girl he asked out?"

"He said her name was Yang." Holly answered. "Whoa, holy shit! You mean the blonde bombshell that despite having the perfect curvy and busty beauty also has one of the best personalities? Oh come one, don't pretend you don't notice. The way she takes care of her sister like that…yeah all around a wonderful woman. And make no doubt about it, Yang is not a girl but a woman." Adrian said.

Holly being somewhat perceptive said, "And that's why you think Cero wont succeed in wooing Yang, her sister? Ruby right?" "Yeah, even if he's really handsome…for a lizard, Yang wouldn't want to leave her sisters side. I mean you did see that Ruby was pale and sick looking?"


	10. First Time

White fluffy clouds floated past as Ruby flew past them in the opposite direction. Ruby wasn't sure how she was doing it but it was nice and relaxing. '_Haven't had a relaxing dream in a while…oh my god. I just realized it was a dream, and I'm still dreaming!_' Excited to say the least, Ruby wondered what she could do inside of a dream. She had heard of dreams like this, where once you are in them you realize you're dreaming and you can then control the dream and do anything.

A flat plain of dirt appeared suddenly below Ruby and she landed on it. The landing didn't hurt but one moment Ruby was there, then she blinked inside the dream and the scene around her changed completely. She was now dressed in queenly garb and walking through her castle, somehow Ruby knew that there were guards outside protecting her while she was inside. Ruby practically floated through the corridors.

This is still a dream, and Ruby could tell this mainly because she sensed plainness in everywhere her direct eyesight didn't rest. Just insider her peripheral vision Ruby could se everything converting to a dull white color and fading away. Whenever Rub saw this whipping her head around to see what had happened, she encountered the same thing she had seen there before.

Clearly it was a dream…a pleasant one until it slowly turned into a nightmare, that then seemed to blend with reality. Ruby saw tree materialize in the middle of the castle corridor, it then grew so enormous that its so wide it the bit facing Ruby almost seemed flat. A chair grew out of the tree's trunk and despite it being made of wood Ruby decided to go have a sit on it. After all, she was controlling the dream; Ruby could do whatever she liked.

However once Ruby sat down in the wooden chair, two people nearly entirely covered rushed forwards and grabbed Ruby's arms. They began hoisting her upwards and Ruby sat up strait and almost screamed aloud, she would have if her brain hadn't been faster than her body and realized that she was just in the temporary room again. '_Ah another one of these, I mean come on really…we're a team now. We should have our own room._' After this thought Ruby yawned, and right at the exact moment as if synchronized, the very quiet alarm went off in Ruby's scroll.

Quickly making her way down the bunk bed, Ruby grabbed her scroll turned off her alarm and reset it. Wanting to establish herself as leader with waking her team up, Ruby grabbed her whistle she had…acquired before coming on this grand adventure. Standing in the middle of the room, and between the two bunk beds, Rub blew the whistle. Yang screamed, "What the bloody hell…oh sorry Ruby. Ah shouldn't you warn us first?"

Ruby looked and saw that she had awoken all three of her teammates. "Right, girls let's get up and get going!" She smiled nervously and Weiss brushed passed her, "Hey Weiss, watch it." "Sorry Ruby, if you don't want me doing that then maybe you shouldn't wake me up like that." Weiss complained, to which Ruby replied with, "But it woke all of you up didn't it? Since I'm the leader I thought I'd get you all up in time for classes. By the way what time did we move to our dorm room?"

Yang and Blake stared at Ruby like she was mad, "What?" Ruby said protesting against their scrutiny. "Look I've been out of the weather lately…" "That's it!" Yang exclaimed. "What's it?" Blake asked to which Yang replied that she had apparently forgotten. "Isn't it obvious? Oh come on am I really the only one to notice it?" Weiss asked poking her head out of the bathroom, she leaned too far out of the door way but luckily Ruby was there to block Yang and Blake's line of sight.

Ruby walked over to Weiss, but her partner shut the bathroom door except for leaving it open a crack. "What is it Ruby? I'm trying to get ready." Weiss asked her voice drifting out of the crack like song, something you'd hear while ascending the steeps to your throne. Ruby shook her head, apparently part of her mind was still stuck in the dream; but Ruby wasn't really complaining, if she dreamt of flying among white fluffy clouds over vast plains of dirt and getting to be queen of her own castle. Well let's just say Ruby wasn't quite so fond of her uncle Qrow, through no fault of his own mind you.

"Uh…you said you could see what was wrong with me?" Ruby asked. "Oh you dolt, cant you even feel it?" Weiss retorted, she said this while stripping the rest of her clothes off and patching up her own wounds. First Weiss covered the skin around her cuts, and much more serious wounds with a fine layer of dust. This dust once Weiss ran it under some nice warm shower water would seep into her skin, and the excess would wash harmlessly down the shower drain.

"Listen, Ruby we both know that we must have sustained severe injuries during our fight with the Ursa. Ruby?" Weiss had apparently already run part of the shower and hadn't heard anything over the water coming form the room outside. Weiss taking caution slowly opened the door of the bathroom, and came face to face with Ruby. Ruby's lips were in fact almost level with both of Weiss's nipples. Weiss upon looking into the storm cloud colored eyes saw their blank expression; '_I've seen that expression before in situations with my sister and forced by my parents that I'd rather forget.' _Weiss thought this then grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and led her in to the bathroom; she then shut the bathroom door and locked it.

"Nice tits Weiss." Ruby mumbled then blushed furiously, "Wait why did, I didn't mean to say that!" "Shh!" Weiss almost hissed, "Be quite! Your hurt obviously worse than I am, and we need to get you properly washed." "Hurt worse than I am?" Ruby asked incredulously, her lips puckered slightly then her eyes met Weiss's, "What about that scare on you abdomen?"

Weiss sighed and admonished Ruby as she took off the smaller girls shirt and the rest of her clothes, Ruby was too buzzed with pain to notice. "Why can't you admit that I have abs? After all it should be plain and obvious to you. After all I'm naked, haven't you looked at me yet?" Ruby shook her head and mumbled with her eyes closed about being how terribly sorry she was, and that she would leave straightaway. "Now hang on, you can't leave Ruby." "But this…" "This I am used to. Listen you're my partner, which basically means you're my sister, which basically means that we'll probably be committing incest pretty soon."

Ruby's eyes popped open and widened, she saw Weiss slowly move forward and Ruby backed against the bathroom wall. Ruby's heart pounded with more than just shocked awkwardness, she also felt weak like whatever injury she had was slowly weakening her. Weiss grabbed Ruby's waist and used her hips to push Ruby against the wall. Weiss connected her lips with Ruby's and Ruby melted in her fist kiss, Weiss got her first kiss that didn't come from her sister.

Both of them felt it and despite the suddenness of it all, they both enjoyed the kiss; Weiss however wanted to press her advantage and reminded Ruby that they were both naked by saying that they were both naked. Ruby gasped and tried shoving Weiss off, when Weiss's grip disappeared from Ruby's shoulders, Ruby wondered in front of the mirror. What Ruby saw attached to the wall first of all caught her off guard. A full-length body mirror was attached to the wall, and Ruby was reflected in its depths, injuries and all.

Looking up and down herself Ruby felt more than heard the fine spray of water coming form the very hot shower. A similar scar to Weiss's traced it's way from about 5 inches under Ruby's right breast and ended almost at her left hip. Being messily diagonal the wound, which had now sealed partway up had left quite a bit of bruising just under the skin around the partially closed wound. Ruby's head began to spin once she actually saw the extent of the damage.

"Good god…Weiss do you have the same injury as me?" Rub asked now terribly frightened. Weiss walked behind Ruby and wrapped a towel around her own waist. The top part of the towel covered the bottom bit of the wound, and due to that the normally white towel got stained red rather quickly. "Yeah I do, now get in that shower and wash all the blood and puss out of that wound. You see that bruising…yeah not what you think it is…oh come on get in there." Weiss insisted.

Ruby let out a scream once she felt how hot the water was, but taking Weiss's council she went through the disgusting and very painful process of forcing (what seemed to Ruby) a gallon of puss mixed with blood out of her body and into the medium sized basin acting as the shower floor. The stuff coming from inside Ruby's body washed away quickly and Ruby just as quickly washed her feet of the stuff as well.

After that it was a bit of a blur for Ruby, having both her and Weiss assist each other in dressing…well each other. The only thing that Ruby really didn't remember is what had happened between Weiss and her standing in their bathroom, with shirts rapidly getting a curiously shaped bloodstain, and the healing center. Ruby saw a very kind but concerned gaggle of about 4 nurses attend to them, and a doctor with a surgical mask treated them both with healing dust.

Ruby wasn't even sure that's what it was called, but whatever it was it certainly 'healed' both Ruby and Weiss's wounds. The doctor was also kind enough to get both Weiss outfits their size; the only problem was that both outfits matched. Ruby's clothes were a lot smaller to accommodate for her small size, and Weiss…eh you get the point. As both Weiss and Ruby walked back (very stiffly) to their dorm rooms to get their school bags for classes Ruby asked, "What's wrong with these outfits?" Rub had asked this question because of Weiss's scowl.

"I'm not scowling Ruby because of our outfits, I in fact find them quite comfortable. It's just the fact that I called you my sister, and I wanted and almost did incest with you. God I'm so fucking stupid!" Weiss shouted, thankfully no one besides Ruby was around to hear it. Regardless Ruby warned, "Don't do that, yelling and I mean it. That's an order from you team leader, no yelling in a place where other people could potentially hear."

"What do you mean? No one is here right now." Weiss argued. "Yes that's very true Weiss, hey I've been meaning to ask you since like 5 minutes ago…why did you do that? I mean the shower scene, I know you and I needed to get the blood and puss out of our wounds, but why did you strip me naked then kiss me. You knew full well that I couldn't defend against you, but you still did it. Why?' Ruby persisted, even when they had gotten their bags and were heading towards their first class.

Weiss said nothing except, "Listen to me Ruby and listen closely, my parents weren't the best of people when it came to domestic life. Oh sure they were brilliant inventors and scientists, but that didn't mean they had their faults. It was that damn Great War, giving my parents genius when it came to Dust but it also gave them madness. Me and my sister when we were older felt the effect of that madness."

* * *

><p>Adrian sat at a table studying the tablet before him. He was in ancient studies class, and so far he was absolutely bored by it, mainly because it didn't have his favorite person, Holly Scordato, in attendance. It didn't do well however to ignore your studies so Adrian diligent followed the only instruction given by the teacher, "Study the thing I place in front of you." Assuming why the teacher didn't say anything more, Adrian just assumed that he would be doing the same thing the next day.<p>

Adrian raised his hand, and once the teacher nodded in acknowledgement he said, "Sir…how long are we going to be studying these things?" "Until you have not only memorized but also familiarized yourselves with every inch of them. It is vital that you do this, if you become familiar enough with the object in front of you that when you happen across the cipher necessary to decode it? You will be able to do so, without retrieving the actual object from this room." The teacher smiled evilly and went back to what must be a terribly interesting book.

After getting all he could done Adrian walked out of the class, it was his second to the last of that day and Adrian really wasn't sure how he felt about his next class. Advanced Weight Lifting it was called, which basically meant (as Adrian discovered once he entered the class room, and after experiencing a few minutes of it) that students would lift weights with the express purpose of getting stronger with wielding their choice of weapon.

Now Adrian's problem right now was that he considered and knew that his body was a weapon, therefore Adrian was forced to dig around in his prison memories to get a hold of the times when he had been allowed to access the weight yard. Using all of his best techniques Adrian went through the workout he knew almost by heart like a machine. A few others kept up with him, and Adrian was impressed. '_Looks like I'll have some friend while I'm in here, everyone else just can't look at me straight without blushing. The guys do it more than the girls, and that disturbs me._'

After that however Adrian knew he had to face the double date with Holly as his partner, the people they would be going with were an unlikely pair. Yang the obviously sexy bombshell with a personality as good as the rest of her was to look at and Cero Radek; he was a Faunus and it was made all the more obvious by his semi scale skin, slightly odd features and the five foot tale heavily scaled lizard tale.

"Ah what am I gonna say? I mean Holly is just so…interesting. I can't get over her for some reason, must be a crush; do I want to tell her that thought?" Adrian debated this with himself as her paced his teams new dorm room, "I better not, because what if Holly's feelings are totally different from mine, and I end up hurting her because of my confession?" Adrian's mind buzzed with questions like this, and after almost an hour of debate with himself Adrian came up with a plan to discover whether or not Holly had a crush on him as well as him having a crush on her.

* * *

><p>The marketplace was noisy as it walkways was, Ry Yin almost despised coming to this place, but it did have its use. Ry was here for one thing and one thing only, contacting information. He needed to know who to contact in case of a certain situation and the White Fang might need assistance in solving the problem. This was of course to be used as a last choice, and in case of an extreme emergency.<p>

A man walked up to Ry Yin and had several blueprints beneath both of his arms; Ry took them and placed them under his own, "Thank you. These will most undoubtedly work, the men I work with will reward you shortly." Ry said this then walked off. A couple of White Fang goons approached the old man, and stabbed him twice with two knifes. Each goon stabbed him, the first in the abdomen and the other in the chest. The goons did this so no one saw what had happened, the old man collapsed just as the goons and Roman disappeared.

The news would report it as a freak out of nowhere heart attack. What really happened was that Roman had ordered the inventor killed. That way anyone who saw what he had created in the hands of the White Fang, then they wouldn't be able to find a weakness of the mechs by finding their inventor; because he was dead. The only foreseeable way Roman knew of that Roman knew of that anyone could defeat the mechs were to capture one and take it apart, thereby learning how it worked and it's weaknesses.

Roman laughed but was still worried, someone might still be alive that inherently knew how these machines worked. The inventor had in their first meeting had told Roman this, "These will be as close as I can get to exact replications, even the feeling people sometimes get when they are around them will be present."


	11. Date Preperations

Blake disliked the cold, mainly because she didn't agree with how it made interacting with other people so different. Talk to someone in cool or even warm weather and they will be themselves, laid back and perfectly calm. In Blake's entire experience that is talking with people, whenever Blake encounters someone in the cold…and ends up talking to them, they always seem to take on different qualities. Yang for instance had changed dramatically over the last few hours, they had spent quite a long time in the store looking for a dress, and once they came out of the store the air was colder.

"How long have we been in there?" Yang asked, "Eh doesn't matter, I got a dress that'll fit me for hopefully this date and a dance?" "Yeah, listen Yang. Even with you awesome personality, you can't deny the fact that you have a…fantastic body." Yang didn't deny it so Blake went on, "So going with that fact, almost every boy you meet if he's the right type, will want to get you out of that dress. Aaaand they will most likely not take in of in the fashion in which it was put on. I guess what I'm trying to say is," Blake stopped Yang and looked at her very seriously, "They will tare the dress off your body if you let them, so please wear it only to the most important occasions."

"And my first date…yeah probably not a good idea to wear a good a dress as this…but I have to wear something nice! What should I get then?" Yang asked totally at a loss, but willing to accept Blake's logic; this didn't disturb Blake or make her uncomfortable. No it was that due to the cold Yang had been in need of a sweater, and instead of getting her own Yang asked Blake if she could borrow hers. Thankfully Blake's sweater was able to fit all of Yang without being two revealing, the black fabric clung to Yang's body nonetheless and made her quite warm.

"Well…hmmm…I agree that you need something nice." Blake said slowly and cautiously, she wasn't used to giving other people suggestions on what they should wear to their first dates, "Wait a minute…did you say first date? You've never been on a date before?" "Oh no, dad didn't like all the boys back home who were asking me on dates. And if I'm being honest, I didn't like them either…eh that's not being honest. The only real reason that I didn't go out with them was because of Ruby." Blake fell silent after Yang told her this, she frankly didn't know what to say.

However having never been on a proper date herself, Blake could sympathize with Yang; not too well however since Blake had been on a date, which was really being used to get near someone who happened to be going on a date in the exact same place. Blake's dates almost always ended in either successful assassination attempts or rescues. The rescues had been saving a Faunus from Human slavers, those jobs Blake had only encountered twice once just barely after she had joined and the other time only 2 years ago.

"That's sweet of you." Blake said suddenly. "Awww thanks Blake! So what should I wear?" Yang asked. The two talked for most of the night checking in and out of stores hardly buying anything, but when they did it wasn't too expensive. Blake and Yang made it all the way back to the dorm without discussing why Yang hadn't taken off Blake's sweater, once they got inside however Yang found it much to hot to keep the sweater on and ended up handing it back to Blake.

* * *

><p>It was about 4:00 in the morning when Holly awoke to the sound of bells, '<em>That's strange, you don't usually hear bells except at funerals and weddings.<em>' She thought not yet willing to get out of bed, Holly realized that she was the first one up and any of her other teammates wouldn't be up for at least a few more hours. She tried and tried but Holly just couldn't go back to sleep, so deciding to find something to occupy herself until the rest of her team awoke; Holly got up and took a cold shower.

After the cold water refreshed Holly she walked out into a dark room, realizing that the light in the bathroom was still on Holly panicked slightly right before she realized that everyone was sleeping so far away from the bathroom that the light didn't reach them. All the same Holly shut the bathroom door just in case, and in the dark made her way over to her bed. At the foot of Holly's bed sat a trunk made of solid oak wood; thankfully the lid wasn't to heavy to lift and Holly opened it and began rummaging through the contents for her outfit.

Rummaging wouldn't be the right word however, because that implies sorting through various and possibly numerous items of clothing. Holly however had very little in the way of clothes; 1 white leather jacket, 1 white fedora, 1 white scarf 12 feet in length, 3 long sleeved wool blouses colors are white cream and red, 4 pairs of white cargo pants colors are white cream red and black, 1 custom shell necklace, 1 white t-shirt. That's only 12 pieces of clothing, obviously excluding underwear socks and shoes; Holly has one pair of shoes and cycles between three pairs of socks and 6 pairs of underwear, which would make Holly's clothing, count jump up to 22 counting pairs as one.

This may seem like a lot, but where Holly came from…well let's just say that if her parents knew where she was and what she was doing; they would be ashamed of her, mainly because Holly's parents had raised her and taught her proper etiquette. After all when you're a long lost princess about to reinstated back into a modern society you must be trained vigorously. Holly had been excited and her big reveal was going to be on her 7th birthday, and 11 years later Holly was supposed to become queen. Cancer got in the way however and Holly ended up missing the boat, metaphorically speaking of course.

Holly sometimes wished that she could tell someone what she was, and who she was. No one knew that she, Holly Scordato, was meant to be crowned queen only a few short hours after she turned 18. '_Looks like school will get in the way of my queen dome, can't say I'll be too disappointed though, my mother and father ignored me…after I got cancer they paid me more attention then I could bare._' Holly's obsession with the Grimm had caused her parents to ignore her, and thanks to this fact Holly's hasn't seen them in person for many years.

Sure there are the television programs that come on all the time, interviews and messages broadcasted from the royal north palace of Remnant. The royalty of the north was a fickle thing, not one person knew quite what to do; it had sprung up almost immediately after the Great War had ended. The only reason why people hadn't gotten rid of the queen and supportive husband system is because it was instrumental in putting the broken pieces of Remnant society back together; with the help of Arthur Schnee of course, the great man who practically discovered Dust and invented its many uses.

Holly sat alone in the dark, right before the moonlight shone through the closed, but unblocked by curtains, window. Once that seemingly unimportant thing happened Holly galvanized herself, quietly as to not wake the others, into grabbing her normal outfit and taking it to the bathroom Holly did this so she could dress in the light, once she was done Holly stepped back into the dorm room. After checking to make sure everyone was still asleep Holly moved to the doorway and let herself out into the school corridor. Shutting the door quietly behind her Holly said equally as quietly, "Blast it I can't see a bloody thing!"

"Well that's interesting!" A face appeared out of the dark…not really a face more like white teeth and the strangest eyes that Holly couldn't seem to focus on, "I've never heard anyone swear like that before, and that accent…you're British…right?" It was Adrian, who else could blend in with the dark with almost no effort. "Yeah so what? You got a problem with that, wee little man?" Holly retorted.

"Uh…Scottish, and British perhaps?" Adrian sighed right before he brought out a flashlight, "Eh whoever you are, you're sure someone. Very interesting if I do say so my self." Holly blushed and asked moving out of the path of Adrian's flashlight, "What are you doing out here…and why aren't there any lights on in this place? They have ruddy electric or what? Oi! Something funny?"

Adrian was laughing but stopped once Holly shushed him saying that people were trying to sleep. "I'm sorry, but your accent…" Adrian said. Holly reverted back to her English accent, one she had developed to disguise her normal very royal and yes…British/Scottish accent. Holly said, "Listen to me Adrian…what was your last name again?" "Oh, sorry. My last name's Cross." Adrian said then directed the flashlight beam at the ceiling, "And as for why I'm out here as well…I couldn't sleep. They don't have electricity because…I actually don't know why they don't have it. Strange isn't it? Every single night they have to turn it off, I've been here for years and never once wondered why."

"You've been here for years?" Holly asked. "Of course I have." Adrian said like it was obvious, although thinking for a moment he realized that it would be obvious to Holly, "Although you probably wouldn't know that, let me explain. Can you keep a secret?" Holly stared at Adrian for a moment before answering with, "Of course I can, don't be stupid. But why would you tell me a secret anyway? You trust me that much and you've just met me, why?"

"Because I hold one of your secrets? Not saying that I'll tell anyone yours but I just thought, what if I told you one of my secrets…just so we're even?" Adrian asked and when Holly nodded he continued with, "My Aura Semblance is special, it gives me Herculean strength when I activate it, but that's not the secret. One of my secrets is that I can…control the elements, and that's why I don't carry around a weapon. No need right?"

"Yes no need indeed. So tell Adrian, what's the real reason why you're up so early?" Holly asked and Adrian responded, "Up so early? Do you even know the time? No hold on." Adrian pointed his flashlight at a clock on the wall; the clock read 6:28. "Oh look at that, almost time for everyone to get up. Don't suppose we should get back?" Holly said to Adrian with a melting smile, just before she went back into her dorm room. Adrian walked up to the door but lowered the hand he had raised to knock; he realized that he did indeed need to get back to his team.

* * *

><p>Somewhere else in the school Ruby opened her eyes, and in those storm gray eyes was the gleam of mischief. Swinging her legs out of her bed, Ruby jumped down to the floor. Landing lightly Ruby got dressed quickly, in the dark because she had done it many times before. Throwing open the windows to the morning sun Ruby took a whistle she had hung around her neck and gave it a great blow. The piercing and high sound rang out in the small room, and instantly woke everyone up.<p>

"Alright team, this will be our last set of classes before the weekend! And this is a time when teachers usually have us hand in our homework and take tests, or quizzes. And so I command you all to eat a delicious breakfast!" Ruby shouted, which she found totally necessary even though everyone was wide-awake. Yang hearing her sister's morning speech laughed.

Blake said only slightly miffed at being woken up again with a whistle, "Don't you mean healthy breakfast? I'm assuming you buy into that stuff about it helps you focus better?" Ruby replied happily dodging a pillow thrown from a will groaning Weiss, "No of course I don't buy into that stuff! If you can't focus during the day, well that's because you're stupid!" "Oh dear, Ruby you better keep you're philosophy inside you. You can't just go around saying things like that to other people…you're sure to hurt their feelings." Yang said claiming the bathroom first much to Weiss's discomfort.

Weiss calmed herself with a thought, '_Now calm down Weiss, you don't need this. You were raised better than this…well the times when mom and dad didn't…_' Well the thought didn't quite calm her down but it did detract Weiss from her anger. Despite her outer image of self-control and properness Weiss was actually a very temperamental person, the anger stemming from the mistreatment and trauma her parents had put her through at an early age.

"Ruby, do tell me, why in the hell do you insist on waking us up like this? Every morning!" Weiss asked her voice the same it always was around Ruby, slightly crazed but all the way through cold. Ruby firmly explained that she did this because, "Well because I'm technically you're boss…well team leader. And anything I say goes! Granted I don't ask for much, so this shouldn't be too hard to bare, now will it?" Ruby looked at both Weiss and Blake innocently, and both of them couldn't help it. Blake agreed almost immediately.

Weiss on the other hand simply knocked on the bathroom door and asked, "Yang you done in there? There's like three people out her waiting to take a shower." Yang called back, "I'm done, I always take fast showers! Oh and you're wrong." "How am I wrong?" Weiss asked incredulous.

Yang opened the bathroom door and then shoved Weiss inside, "Because I know Ruby's already taken one, she did this all the time to my family back home. Our uncle Qrow certainly didn't like it, but our father loved it! So that's why Ruby still does it today!" Weiss simply shook her head and said to Blake, "I wont be long." True to her word Weiss exited the bathroom 10 minutes later. When she walked out into the room, with her clothes on of course, Weiss discovered most of the team gone except for Blake sitting on her own bed. When Blake saw that Weiss was done she took her turn and in about the same amount of time that Weiss took, Blake was done and ready to go.

* * *

><p>When classes were all done with everyone was excited for the weekend purely because they didn't have schoolwork. Another reason everyone was excited was because next week would be combat week; the Beacon school schedule was set up to where the first week would be academic week, and the second week would be combat week. The pattern would repeat itself until the school year ended with one final combat week.<p>

The academic week was entirely focused on the classroom and various activities that one would expect when coming to a school. It was combat week that set Beacon and one other prestigious school apart from the rest. All combat week was teams getting assigned kill missions, basically where teams would get sent out to hunt down and exterminate Grimm. How long the assignments would take would vary on how many the teams had either failed at or succeeded at.

If you were apart of a team, take ICRS for example, you would want to be successful as often as you could be. All students at the beginning of their first Academic week had been given standard issue scrolls (sort of like tablets but slimmer and more shaped like a smart phone), which would be used to receive messages from the school among various other things. The scrolls had told the students that the more they succeeded during the Combat week would determine the difficulty of their next assignment during their next Combat week.

Even if a team succeeded during the entirety of a Combat week, unless their performance had been greatly improved from their previous performance, most of the time the team would be given a passing grade for that week. Team ICRS incidentally was very excited for next week, they were however equally nervous as well.

Holly sat in a chair, wearing her usual summer outfit. Holly's white jacked was draped across the back of her chair; she had taken it off since no one was around. Holly's arms were that of a gymnast, in fact the rest of her body was that of a gymnast. Granted it wasn't quite the shape of a female adult gymnast, but it still held it's own. Holly didn't like showing this side other, mainly because when her parents had raised her they had said, "Be sure to never show or flaunt you body in public." Later once Holly had begun her obsession with learning everything there was to know about Grimm her father had advised, right before Holly had disappeared, "Do wear some sort of jacket, won't you? It would do your old man some comfort."

And so to this day Holly never took it off in front of others; the only ones who had seen holly without her jacket on were her teammates. When they had seen what Holly looked like they congratulated her, and Holly felt warmed and was amused at her teammates. Also Holly was happy to know a group of people, however small that genuinely liked her…that meant that every time Holly didn't tell them who she really was, it nearly tore her apart.


	12. Unsuccessful Romance

Ruby sat in the dorm room huddled inside a blanket…with Weiss, who was decidedly less uncomfortable than she should have been. However Weiss was cold just as much as Ruby was, so when Ruby suggested that (since the heating system had malfunctioned and was being repaired) they cuddle under a blanket while watching the news to stay warm…well Weiss didn't refuse. The two partners sat side by side on Ruby's bed watching a live stream of the morning news on Weiss's scroll.

They would have been watching the morning news on Ruby's scroll, but Weiss since she did come from a rich family had a much more versatile scroll. And thanks to Weiss's money she was able to buy a more powerful system so she could get quality sound and picture; Weiss wanted this for when she was either studying, or watching the news. When Weiss tried to explain stuff about money, Ruby interrupted with, "Listen Weiss you have obviously grown up much different than me, and of course that basically means that I will not understand a single thing you say."

During a brief recap of the weather, outside Beacon a very cold rain was persisting, Ruby asked Weiss, "Where are the others? I know they said they had a date, but if they were having it today wouldn't they have it…I don't know, at a later time?" "Ruby I just woke you up, and you've been watching the news channel where they don't announce the time until after their weather recaps." Weiss replied. When Ruby complained that she didn't know what that meant, Weiss simply told her to wait.

Once the weather was done being announced Ruby finally looked up and saw, on the wall, a clock which told Ruby that it was 5 O' clock in the afternoon. Ruby's eyes widened, she turned to Weiss and frantically asked, "What happened? Why the hell did you wake me up in the afternoon?" Weiss just looked at Ruby and said, "Don't you remember what happened two days ago? You didn't sleep! You woke up Friday morning for the weekend testing, but didn't fall asleep Friday night! You stayed up for two days and barley fell asleep…7 hours ago."

Ruby paused a moment, then rubbing the back of her neck asked, "Yeah sorry, guess I'm still tired." At that Weiss flung the blanket off them, returned her scroll to one of the two trunks at the foot of the bunk bed they were sitting atop of, and called up to Ruby, "Get down from there, come on it's time to stretch your legs and experience the world…that's basically a nice way of saying; you are lazy and need to get up!" Weiss turned then to go to the bathroom and prepare a bath for Ruby. Yesterday Weiss had learned that Ruby always took baths on weekends when she didn't have to rush to things, but during the week Ruby always took showers.

Ruby kept insisting that she had been fine on her own, but Weiss insisted that she trying taking scented baths. That way Ruby wouldn't smell ever again, even after working out…for 4 hours. Which was another frequent habit of Ruby's, that Weiss had also set her eyes on to improve. Ruby had mixed feelings about how Weiss was starting to approach and forcibly change her private life, the scented baths were nice and Weiss even let Ruby pick what scent she wanted to smell like.

The workout sessions…Ruby had heard Weiss say to her that she was going to change something about that, and thanks to Weiss's bossy attitude and the fact that Ruby didn't like upsetting her; Weiss would more than likely get Ruby to change somehow. This didn't mean that Weiss was bullying Ruby in anyway, in fact Ruby judged that she would except whatever changes Weiss imposed on her based on the changes she had already suggested.

"Alright Ruby, get in there and freshen up, you and I are going to town and since you will be coming with me I need you to look your best." Weiss ignored Ruby's look, she didn't want to answer the question about what had happened between them after the Ursa attack. "After all I am the heiress of Schnee Dust, the most powerful and influential organization controlling dust in the world. Therefore I have a reputation to uphold."

"Fine, that's all good…but when are we going to talk about it?" Ruby looked serious but Weiss could meet her eyes, "Aw come on Weiss, I'm just as confused as you are. Granted the same things that happened to you, didn't happen to me…but I still feel as if we should talk about it. What's going on?'

"You know how Yang and Cero are going on a date tonight?" Weiss asked and when Ruby nodded still holding the door of the bathroom, hesitating Weiss continued with, "Well I've noticed that they seem to being going for all the wrong reasons, how do I know that? Well I've talked to Cero's team, and I've learned that two members are also going on a date…"

"But wait! That leaves one person without a date! That's not right." Ruby frowned and asked, "Who hasn't got a date? I mean a lot of people are going on dates, mostly with their partners…regardless of gender. Oh you didn't know about that? Yeah apparently there are a lot of gay people here at Beacon." "And that doesn't bother you, no one bit, Ruby?" Weiss asked not too concerned herself.

"No, no not that many gay people. It's just a lot more than I was expecting, actually I think it's the same amount in all schools…it's just that the ones here are expressing themselves more openly than others." Ruby said plainly, but then added quickly due to the suspicious look Weiss was giving her, "Hey I didn't spy on them, I just asked the principle about partners dating partners."

Weiss couldn't drag anything more out of Ruby, so she went back to watching the news. The question of who was left on team ICRS without a date had gone unanswered…for now. The weather outside was chilly to say the least and only a handful of people were about to enjoy the weather coming upon the region. Not too far from Beacon was the town of Vale, and its population had been experiencing its yearly rainy season.

Yang's breath fogged as she breathed out, she commented, "It's cold, are you sure we can go out this far?" Her and Cero were currently operating a two-person paddleboat across Castle Lake, which was named due to the rumors that deep underneath its unnatural depths was a mysterious castle. The castle under Castle Lake had been discovered by sonar technology during the Great War. Yang was fascinated by it and had asked Cero only a few minutes earlier, "What's the story of Castle Lake?"

"Well my dear blonde, you'll be happy to know that no one has drowned in this lake, that anyone currently knows about." Cero had paused, but didn't finish because the guy renting out boats had called them over somewhat impatiently. Now that they were on the lake itself Cero felt it necessary to point out, "This sumbitch is really deep! I mean like so deep that I think it actually widens out underneath the continent Vale city is on…what's so funny?"

"Ha, you didn't know? Vale city is only called that because of where it is! The continent we are on is called Vale…and just so you know, the world government is named Vytal." Yang stated to which Cero replied with, "Isn't that weird though? The world government is called Vytal, but he world we live on is called Remnant? Didn't it occur to you that something is a little off?"

"Not about that really, but something about this lake is bugging the crap out of me. Either you told me, ore I've forgotten but remind me; why are we paddling across this lake?" Yang asked. Yang wasn't afraid of water, although she knew someone who was, she just didn't like the idea of a lake that was really the top of an underground ocean. "And another question, that I doubt you'll be able to answer but I'll ask anyway; if there really is an underground ocean under this continent, then how the hell have we not sunk?"

"Ah, careful there Yang. I may be studying into a science that studying the relationship between tectonics plates and ocean water, but I'm not that far in. I can't really give you any definite answers yet, but I can tell you something. There is some really funky and interesting, but also slightly mystical things happening on Remnant." Cero said mischievously, with a glint in his eyes that suggesting that he was in part amused by Yang's confusion. "As to why we're rowing across it? Haven' you looked at the sky in the past 10 minutes?"

"No I've been to concentrated on not tipping us over, you said that this lake is really deep? I've got no fear of water, but come on…if an entire castle can go unfound from even the most basic sonic technology for years? And if this lake is really that deep, then that's fucking scary." Yang said right before their paddleboat hit a dock; thankfully they were going at a relatively slow speed so the craft simply stopped. After helping himself out, Cero helped Yang out as well. Once the two were off a staff member hired by the owner of the island tied their paddleboat to the dock.

Yang looked and saw that the island wasn't really that, it was more like a plateau floating in the middle of the water…with a dock built into one side. A catwalk built into the side wrapped around the almost colossal relatively sort spire of stone; it wasn't that big when compare to the size of the lake, which itself was barely small enough to even be considered a lake, and not a grounded ocean. Castle Lake was the largest known body of water to be completely landlocked. Except for the supposed underground channel, no other river or even a stream connected Castle Lake with the ocean, the real ocean that coved the surface of Remnant.

The plateau in the middle of Castle Lake was, from Yang's view, very tall and quite wide. "Why are you bringing me up here?" Yang asked to which Cero finally answered, "You haven't heard of Castle Lake Diner? Let's just say it's got some wonderful food, and an incredible view." Yang climbed the steps behind Cero. Once they reached the top Yang discovered that there was indeed a diner on top of Castle Lake Plateau, it didn't look like it could serve many people however.

"How many people can this diner serve?" Yang asked. "Well this place is mainly a supply and prep shop service that prepares food caught in Castle Lake, and ships it out to other businesses. They do however serve customers right at their doorstep." Cero answered to which Yang asked, "Oh really? And how do you know so much about this place?" A shout came from the building that was the diner, a man more bigger taller and broader than Cero walked out and towards them; Yang could tell by the similarities between Cero and the Faunus walking towards them that the two were somehow related.

The male Faunus turned out to be Cero's same species of Faunus, not his family. Yang had gotten it wrong; the two weren't related not even close. That made Yang wonder, did Cero have any family? While Yang contemplated this she didn't even try to keep the date going, things eventually spiraled down once the two found that they had literally nothing in common. By the end of it Yang ended up shouting at Cero for keeping secrets, and of course that offended Cero and both of them left.

They both rowed back in completely silence and once they eventually made it back to shore, Cero and Yang departed ways with a rift of distrust probably larger than Castle Lake growing between them. Holly and Adrian on the other hand were having an awkward time; there wasn't any spark between them, mainly because the weather was too cold. If Blake was observing both the dates she would have said, "I know it! The cold changes people!"

Arashi paced at the general docking station about half a mile in front of Beacon. It was a place where 4th year students came back from expeditions and the general public as well as a lot of other people got off and on to and from Beacon. It was to say the least a very busy place, but despite being there nearly all night Arashi hadn't seen a sign of. It was now Sunday and Arashi hadn't seen anyone return from their dating night, It was strange shouldn't anyone have returned by now?

At first Arashi had waited here Saturday night, but when it had gotten two cold Arashi had simply curled up in a ball inside of a bush and slept. This wouldn't been strange had it not been for the fact that he had a condition akin to lycanthrope, except the transformation from real humanoid Faunus to small furry fox wasn't nearly as painful as from man to wolf. Arashi had slept curled up inside his clothes, now they hadn't kept him warm but his orange red fox fur had.

This ability was inherent of all Faunus…it was however completely removed from general knowledge since it was dangerous. However Arashi had discovered it in the short week after he had ran away from the White Fang, Arashi's first transformation hadn't been into a small orange coated furry fox, but a rather large menacing and unnaturally predatory fox. Upon learning of this Arashi was shocked to learn that the transformation was completely natural, and that he still had possession of his mind.

Arashi hadn't told anyone about this, after all wouldn't it just separate Humans and Faunus even more? The Humans already believed that the Faunus were completely animals, what if they discovered that Faunus could become whatever animal species they represented? That would only cause problems; Arashi certainly didn't want that so he kept his mouth shut about his discovery. A small wind picked up and Arashi raised his nose and sniffed at the air.

Arashi's ears, which were black fox ears, twitched as the picked up sound waves traveling from a long distance away; a feat normally impossible to Humans and even to the average Faunus. It had taken some time, but during Arashi's brief connection with nature he had honed and unlocked his natural abilities granted to him because he was a Faunus. Arashi was sitting down on a bench, and it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

Despite what many people thought, having a black fox tail (which was tipped with yellow) didn't know hinder your sitting ability at all. Arashi realized that he couldn't sit quite like a human could, but he managed well enough. The sounds Arashi's ears picked up were words in a strange language. It sounded like some sort of alien speech, and that part really bugged Arashi; he didn't believe in aliens, ghosts, zombies etc. at all.

"But what's making that noise?" Someone asked and Arashi turned to see that girl named Blake was sitting next to him. Next to her sat one of her teammates, Arashi knew this unspeakably beautiful creature to be the one and only Ruby Rose. Arashi dared not speak to her but he did ask Blake, "What do you mean? Do you hear that as well?"

Blake turned to Arashi and was about to say something when Ruby chimed in with "Isn't it strange, first the fact that no one who went out on a date last night has returned. And now that strange freaky alien like language, what's that about anyway?" Both Arashi and Blake looked at Ruby. "What? You don't hear it too?"

"No we hear it…strange I agree." Both Blake and Arashi knew that they were both Faunus, Ruby didn't know however so they couldn't tell her how strange it was. The whole situation spiraled out of control one Ozpin with a platoon of 50 some odd Beacon guards marched towards the general docking area. Once they arrived Ozpin addressed the three students, who were still sitting down too stunned to move, "Did you all hear that, and do you all feel that? An hostile voice projects itself all across Vale continent, I've been getting numerous reports from all the major schools that they and others have heard it too. However when I asked the schools on the continent Atlas, they said they didn't hear anything. After that I hung up on them, mainly because they thought I was crazy. Also the unnatural cold, it is rainy season but it never gets this damn cold! Something unnatural is happening here, and something even crazier; all the couples that went on dates yesterday have gone missing! It's like they've all been taken by what ever force is speaking to the collective minds of Vale and making the entire continent feel a heavy chill."

Ozpin sat in a bench next to the one Arashi Blake and Ruby was sitting in. Ruby worried and of course scared turned to Ozpin and asked, "What will we do headmaster?" Ozpin looked and Ruby and a tired smile stretched across his face, it disappeared once Ozpin said, "We will carry on, I fear I may have to send out the 4th years on extended hunting trips to try and find what is causing these unnatural occurrences."

**Don't ask me why this wasn't structured as a double date, to be honest I just decided against it. In fact the real reason is because something is messing with the world of Remnant, what is it you may ask? Well you'll just have to keep reading and find out! ^.^**


	13. Escalation

It wasn't hard to imagine violence when the only thing in your heart was hatred, that's how Ry Yin felt. How dare Arashi abandon the White Fang, after all he did for them; how could he just turn his back like nothing happened? "I'll find him." Ry promised himself even though he knew it wouldn't be easy. He was alone on this matter, the current higher ups of the White Fang wanted nothing to do with Arashi, when Ry questioned them about it all they said to him was, "He's too dangerous." Too dangerous, how…the White Fang is the thing to be feared, because you're dangerous! This is what Ry had screamed at them, only problem was they couldn't reply back when they were dead.

Ry Yin had a problem controlling his temper; it really wasn't his fault he was born that way. That's how Ry tries time and time again to convince himself, it's not my fault it's not my fault…over and over again. Repeated endlessly, and whenever someone blames him for something, Ry just gets in his or her face and says, "I was born this way, and can I help that? What if you were born to hate? You can't help that!" Usually Ry wasn't a person to lose his temper that often; however when he did it usually terrified people enough to stop them in their tracks, and force them to consider whatever they said to be wrong.

Roman currently sat in a similar situation in which he had first called the White Fang out for being too soft. A soft chair deceptively telling him, 'it will be alright as long as you relax everything will be fine'. These thoughts entered Ry's head whenever he got comfortable or at seemingly random times. Lately the madness had been showing so the White Fang had come to confront him yet again, and Ry was about to waste these fools like he did the last time they had confronted him right until someone he wasn't expecting walked through the door.

"Ry, you're out of control. This is what the White Fang is about. We're more controlled then this." Says Cinder with a smirk on her face.

"You think this is amusing? Really, you come here to accuse me of 'losing control' and you smirk?" Ry Yin simply ignored her. Eventually cinder simply sighed and stared at Ry, he didn't notice so Cinder was free to…just stare and contemplate. When she and Roman had inducted Ry into the White Fang they didn't know why, even them Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall didn't know who the real leader of the White Fang currently was. Everyone knew what they looked like since they had appeared on the news making announcements, they didn't do those anymore however; since recently investigations revealed that they used television broadcasts to distract people from the operations they had their organization pull off.

What the police and interrogators of the toughest maximum security prison to come out of the Great War couldn't figure out from the leader was how many jobs the White Fang had pulled off during the 6 day broadcast. Due to a lot of people debating the subject on blogs, and any other form of expression the logical conclusion was reached that nothing too major could have been done during that time. What people didn't realize however was that the great farms of the south were having serious trouble keeping up with the quotes.

"Oh did you hear about the farms in the south? That's what we should keep doing!" Ry yelled and got up from his chair, thrusting his fist he accented his next words, "We did that, and despite the fact that it will eventually consume the entire south…what about the north? Huh? If we did that why can't we do more?"

Cinder slammed her hand against the table and it almost burst into flames, instead of the room getting hotter when she got angry the room got colder. When Cinder raised her head and took her hands off the table she seemed just as surprised as Ry Yin. Someone walked in the door behind Cinder. "What do we have here? You two are arguing like an old married couple and that's fucked up since Ry is older than you Cinder…ha you think I didn't know?"

Cinder spun around and shouted with surprise, "What don't be ridicul…oh it's you. God damnit why do you always have to do that? And I am older than Ry Yin, and you know that better than anyone."

"Of course I do, it's just funny that despite me being just released from torture…I'm still able to form sentences enough to get you on edge. You'd think I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do that…but I'm your father, so don't fuck with me Cinder. I know you inside…and out better than you or even myself."

Silence reigned supreme in the room after this declaration. "Now what's this about doing something in the south?"

"Ah yes sir, as I was saying…the White Fang is causing major destruction in the south, but not enough for it to be noticed." Said Ry with a smirk confident that he was right, that illusion was shattered when the parent of Cinder Fall put hands on the table and leaned towards Roman speaking in a tone that ground glass to dust.

"You, Ry are ignorant. Do you even realize what's happening in the south? Faunus having trouble with their farms, THE FARMS ARE ALL GONE!" Hands were taken off the table and a head was shaken, "I can't believe how ignorant you both are, has anyone sent a hyper spy drone over to the south to LOOK? How can you sit here and say things about it when you haven't seen it."

"Well enlighten us, what did happen?" Asked Cinder, despite her parent – she absolutely refuse to believe that the person was her father – giving her a glare that clearly said, 'I'll kill you if you make a sound'.

"Check the news, just as I was getting out of the torture hole I saw an ad a guard was watching on TV. It told of a travel destination in the south, but I could tell that the footage was outdated and the text was simply being replaced. Do you know what the footage was?"

"No." Says Ry who clearly doesn't want anything to do with the leader.

"Yes, I actually saw that ad before; last night in fact." Cinder says, "Wait a minute…does that mean?"

"Yes that does mean that I just got out 9 hours ago, yippee you're not as dumb as you look!" The leader laughed and walked back out the door. "Seriously watch the news, some interesting shit's happening."

"We don't have time to watch the news…just tell us the truth, please! If you tell us then we'll inform the rest of White Fang and you get to rest and recover from whatever's wrong with you." Cinder says.

"It goes like this, Grimm have been completely massacred from the south and I've replaced them with something different. What is that you may ask? Well if you are, why are you even asking? Go out there and find out for yourselves…" The leader of the White Fang paused and then stopped talking altogether.

They walked out of the room saying behind their shoulder, "Take care to divert attention from yourselves and the south, the rest of the world can't know about what's going on there." The leader stopped turned around momentarily and added, "Kill anyone who seems like they're about to investigate the south. Make sure no one does, the experiment isn't quite ready to be revealed to the rest of the world."

"What do you mean? The rest of the world…what area does this 'experiment' effect anyway?" Asks Cinder who decides to leave Ry Yin by himself, she follows her parent out the door shutting it behind her. "And what is this experiment?"

"Zombies. Specifically simplified versions of Grimm, Grimm that can now be controlled like a robotic swarm completely under the control of one who knows how to use them." The leader sighs and lays a hand on Cinder's shoulder, "Ah my dear, sweet but mainly murderous daughter…you despise the humans. And yet you're not too sympathetic to the Faunus either. Do you love your own race?"

"I don't love them, no matter what we preach, and we're still animals when compared to the Humans." Cinder looks down then shrugs of the hand, "Now we need to get back to work. You have your army brewing in the south, correct? And army of controllable Grimm, and I'm assuming you would be the one controlling them?"

"And that is where you're cleverness fails you." The leader admitted, "Although, maybe not. Maybe you have figured out who really will control the army, you just haven't accepted it. Ah yes I see the fear in your eyes, and it's true! The army will control itself, I'm basically giving the Grimm…oh I wouldn't say superpowers but something akin to that."

Cinder faced the leader and asked quite certain that she wouldn't get an answer, "What's really going on? That's a cute story, but I don't believe you can do that to a Grimm…you're full of shit. You're lying!" After hurling her accusation Cinder just stared at the leader of the White Fang her one of two of her parents.

"Alright it's just a story." The leader mumbles something about part of what they said being true then walked off. Cinder stared after them curious as to what they meant by that, what part of the fabricated lie was actual truth. Come to think of it Cinder hadn't heard from the continent, which lay south of the continent Vale. Walking very quickly and determinedly Cinder went over to the communications room, where all calls from the White Fang outposts could supply the main hub of operations. The location of the main hub was kept secret, but it was on Vale. Which at first didn't make sense, but made even more sense than putting it anywhere else when one considered its location. The White Fang didn't really have an established HQ but it did have a central outpost, in the time after the Great War the White Fang had been formed. That time had passed since leadership had changed within the organization; the current leader was mad and was only focused of putting fear into the hearts of Humans.

Cinder had a feeling that the current leader of the White Fang didn't want peace for the Faunus anymore, as more time passed Cinder had the feeling that the White Fang was morphing more and more into simply a terrorist group.

* * *

><p>The sun shined high in the sky and the light provided by the sun sparkled off the fountain water. When the fountain of Beacon was running…it wasn't for show it mainly meant that the power was back on. And indeed it was, the day was Monday the start of many students first combat week. As Ruby woke up and prepared to wake the others up she had a thought. '<em>What is the real deal with the combat weeks?<em>' Pondering this question and stalling the alarm for nary a moment Ruby blew the whistle hanging from around her neck.

The others jumped awake and this time prepare faster than usual. Ruby had the previous night barred entrance to the dorm room, and had therefore forbidden sleep until she was finished speaking. What Ruby did was give her team a much-needed pep talk, all Ruby told them was, "Don't worry about it, and don't stress. Why? Because there is no need, you've got this! Aw come on don't give me those looks, you took down Grimm, Grimm! The most terrifying monsters and some of the hardest to kill, even though that may have seemed easy to you all…it in reality wasn't that easy to take down those Grimm. It was easy for you? Then great, that just means that you're already a baddass! And if you're already a baddass then there is absolutely no reason why you should be nervous about the first combat week." After Ruby said this she promptly changed into her night clothing and tucked herself into bed.

Now as she lead her team to great this new challenge Ruby pondered if she would have time to sift through her memories. Granted it had only been about a month and a half for Ruby since she had seen both her father and Uncle Qrow, but that was enough time to forget some stuff. And Ruby desperately wanted to remember. Despite the feeling Ruby got whenever her mind involuntarily tried to regurgitate a painful memory, which seemed to be the most common, Ruby was still adamant in her mind that she would sort things out in her mind…and hopefully come to grips with things.

"Welcome students young, freshman and all. You are gathered outside of the front lawn to discuss how the student body as a whole will be split up into teams to hunt down you're assigned targets." Ozpin was speaking his voice raised slightly above its normal volume, but he still wasn't shouting nor was he using any enhancements. Everyone was just dead silent; the freshman were curious and at the same time nervous as to what the combat weeks would be, the sophomores and juniors weren't really worried at all because they had gone on at least one years worth of combat weeks, the seniors were the most nervous.

"The seniors will take the most dangerous missions, these ones will have a random chance to be important in that they must be completed correctly and within a certain and almost always restrictive amount of time." Says Goodwitch from beside Ozpin; she continued speaking, "This is what the rest of you will be experiencing; years junior sophomore and freshman will all get assigned 10 vital missions each. That brings the total number of vital mission this week…to 30 excluding the seniors."

One of the seniors raised his hand, and one Ozpin acknowledge his request to speak he said, "What will the seniors do exactly?"

"Very good question, all seniors will be assigned to at least one important mission." Ozpin said, "There will be three teams selected taking the best from all four years of students. As you may realize that means only three teams picking from four student years…a year may very well not get picked from. Everyone will be evaluated on their first day performance and then will either be assigned one of two categories; hunting for recourses, or hunting to prove skill. The process will repeat and depending on the circumstances, and the students performance the day before, they will either do the same type of mission they did before or get assigned a new one. At the end of the week regardless of how any student did during the week, everyone will take a final 'exam' at the end of the week. Which is basically a fun way of saying, at the end of every combat week you will be launched back into Forever Fall forest and be expected to rack up as a high of a body count as you possibly can. Your performance will be constantly evaluated in combat week, so give it your best and don't fuck up!"

Everyone was shocked at first when Ozpin swore, but when the realized that he was serious when he said that everyone prevented themselves from laughing. It obviously wasn't funny and with this revelation about what would go on every year at Beacon, some of the freshmen were beginning to get a little nervous. Some of them however, like teams RWBY JNPR ICRS and even CRDL were pumped because going to Beacon would be challenging. This meant that their skills would improve even faster; both Ozpin and Goodwitch could see this in the all these teams' collective eyes.

Ozpin leaned over to Goodwitch and whispered, even though they were in his office and it was totally unnecessary he still whispered anyway, "Don't you think it's exciting Glynda? Just think, already we have 16 students from our freshman year that will rise through the ranks and become astounding Hunters and Huntresses."

Glynda Goodwitch blushed at Ozpin's close proximity, she really didn't want Ozpin to know that despite both their ages that she had the hot on for him. So turning her head so Ozpin couldn't see her scarlet face, "I should be getting back to my office, and if you should need any assistance simply call me. Oh do you want me to place any restrictions on who should be allowed to visit you?" Glynda was Ozpin's secretary and if anyone wanted to meet with the headmaster they would have to talk to Glynda, then usually she would call a line than ran between her desk and his office.

"Ah now let me think, yes don't let any students come talk to me during the first day of combat week. But do send up the senior team captains, I do want to tell them where they are going and other such important stuff." Says Ozpin with a smile, and Glynda left before he could see her blush again. She could never resist that smile, and what was crazy was the fact that Ozpin and Glynda had never before seen each other before Glynda had excepted the job only a year previously to be Ozpin's secretary.

The day had begun with frenzy and would end with over half the senior class of students missing in action. Almost disturbingly like the couples that had disappeared on Saturday night.


	14. The Spiders' Nest

Holly woke to the sound of dripping, once constantly every 2 seconds. An intense pain in her stomach as if the walls had broken down and the acids were eating her insides, almost fried her brain. Holly screamed and the sound was lost almost immediately after it left her mouth. Listening intently Holly could hear nothing…that was it; absolutely no sound could be heard apart from the drip every two seconds. Holly opened her eyes to find something had been placed over her head, a blackness that wasn't just black because the lights were on; Holly suddenly got the disturbing feeling that she didn't want to know where she was. But the impending realization that was about to crash down upon Holly was almost too much; she'd already figured it out in her head, but Holly really hoped it wasn't true. '_Only one-way to find out what's…no. Probably shouldn't scream, let's try something else._'

After thinking about it Holly somehow got into her head the brilliant idea to look up; however once she started trying her mind was confused as to which way was up. '_No! Damnit I was afraid of this._' Holly wasn't yet willing to accept what was painfully obvious, so she searched her surroundings once more. With her eyes still open staring straight ahead, Holly heard the dripping…but concentrating Holly made out the sound of creaking. Like a rope tied to too much weight. A shape materialized in Holly's peripheral vision, it was so far off that Holly had trouble making out the detail. It seemed to be moving against a dark but not quite black background so Holly yelled one of the many questions swimming around in her head, "Hey where am I?'

No response. Holly tried everything and ended up screaming herself hoarse, deciding to stop before she did something to her voice Holly just stared ahead and watched the figure; deciding to focus on it a shock was sent through Holly's system. When she focused, which cleared up her mind, Holly realized two things; one she had a MASSIVE headache, and two that she was slowly spinning. '_Why am I spinning, and what's this sticky stuff on my face? It feels…oh god. I can't feel my face!_' Holly began to feel fear and panic, but because there were so many questions burning a hole in her head she couldn't give into those emotions. The problem was Holly felt like once she got most of them answered, there would be no stopping the fear and anxiety. '_I wish I'd apologized…damnit. It's my fault for being so cross with Adrian. And he was, no is hot! Why am I acting like he doesn't exist anymore? He still does? Does he?_'

Another scream nearly tore its way up Holly's throat when she heard the drip for the 4 thousandth time…no joke; Holly would most likely remember every single time it had happened. Holly's mind couldn't help but notice that it had been over half and hour since she had awoken; Holly also noticed that she hadn't moved during that time either. Wanting to move so she could find the source of the dripping and murder it very violently, Holly attempted to move. That however only made Holly spin faster and with the now numerous things sliding in and out of her vision very rapidly it started making her sick.

A chattering and clacking sound could be heard blow her, and Holly felt what must be pincer like legs rotating her head. This in turn caused the rest of Holly to be constricted in the now obvious webs that bound her. One of the pincers spinning Holly snagged a small section of web and pulled it away from her right eye. Now that Holly had some of her vision back she could see where she was, it was a large cavern not with too much of a high ceiling…just about 100 feet from floor to ceiling. No stalactites nor stalagmites could be seen; Holly's headache and stomach wound still persisted slightly then out of nowhere the pincers pressed hard against Holly's head.

Holly felt blood being drawn, and the pain was helpful in focusing Holly's senses; she put it in the back of her mind and concentrated on her hands and arms. All the webbing around Holly's head had been removed and the rest of it was slowly unraveling; this was good because Holly would soon be free. The only problem was that Holly was suspended at the halfway point from ceiling to floor; a fifty foot drop that in her condition Holly would never survive.

What Holly really needed to do was take a breather and let her Aura repair her body. '_Hold on…great big cavern…webs, bodies suspended from the ceiling from those webs…oh dear sweet black baby Jesus, I'm in a spider's nest!_' The spider sill spun Holly round and round, and when Holly sent a little of her Aura to heal the wounds in her head she realized what it was doing. Using its two front legs the spider (still unknown to Holly at this point how big it was) was spinning Holly to get her free of the webs. It only took oh…10 minutes for the spider to get Holly free from her bindings.

Once the spider had freed Holly it balanced her by putting the ends of both of its front legs under her arms. Holly still not willing to risk the plunge 50 feet below to the floor (which look soft but Holly had a feeling that it wasn't, after all sand wasn't green) clung to the spider's legs for dear life. The spider didn't lower Holly to the floor (like she wanted it to) but instead the spider carried her at about the same height she was at, 50 feet off the ground. The spider moved like it was crammed into a tight spot, Holly then realized that despite the 100 foot tall cavern being…well 100 feet tall the spider didn't quite fit comfortably. '_How big is this damn thing? And better yet where the hell am I?_'

These questions and many others swirled around Holly's head, the pain they caused was nothing compared to the pain over the still massive headache pounding through Holly's head. It had lessened somewhat since Holly had mentally reactivated her Aura. Holly at that moment after an immeasurable amount of time being carried by the spider felt her Aura reverting back to a dormant state; once she focused on it however Holly felt the Aura stir within her. '_Damn…my aura's low, or better yet my blood is…!_' Holly had just realized what the dripping sound had been, almost all her blood slowly draining out of her. '_But that can't have been all my blood, I'm still alive! NO THAT'S TOO CREEPY!_' But Holly really couldn't think of a better explanation, the dripping hadn't been every two seconds and Holly did not just spend almost and hour caught in a spider's web. Truth be told, Holly had no idea how long she had been in the cave suspended by webs.

The realization that Holly had about the dripping had been that all the bodies must have been being drained of blood. Thinking back Holly suddenly realized that the dripping wasn't a drip it was more like the sound of a waterfall; the sound like a great amount of water hitting the ground, but unlike a waterfall the sound cut off. That fact of silence then splash was the reason Holly had initially thought it to be dripping, and not what it really was. Holly again heard a sort of splashing sound, but seeing as how the spider was now away from the bodies Holly couldn't figure out what it was.

The Aura treatment however ineffective it was and however how slow it worked did give Holly enough energy to look down and become in control of her sense of sight. What she saw was slightly disturbing; it's like when looking at something that's wrong but you don't know it is; Holly would have thought nothing of it; the ground was red. However seeing the countless number of bodies being drained of blood Holly had the disturbing suspicion that the floor was either 1: made of blood or 2: covered in a layer of blood. The spider's legs entered the blood and then came back out; the number of splashes could determine the speed at which the massive spider was moving.

The pace increased once the spider saw something; apparently the spider had much better vision than Holly because she still only saw the rough walls of the cavern and the blood that coated the floor. Holly could see because of the glow the spider was somehow giving off, '_No it's not the spider, it's the cave ceiling!_' Holly's thought turned out to be true when the spider raised her high up so she was only 10 feet from the ceiling of the endless cavern of blood. The ceiling was almost too bright to look at, the entire surface seemed to be coated with a glowing web that seemed like it had fake sunlight trapped in it.

Holly closed her eyes but almost immediately after she did the spider set her down. Holly's feet came in contact with solid granite, that's what it was when Holly opened her eyes and risked a look. She was about 20 feet from the ceiling now so the light was bearable; the spider's two front legs were raised out of the blood, which stopped just 2 feet below Holly's feet. Bubbles rose out of the blood and when they popped on the surface Holly could hear bursts of incessant clicking. Holly wondering what was making the spider angry looked at the platform she was on. It was so small and unimportant compared to the…when Holly looked around her she saw what looked like the same endless chamber but with the blood level much, much higher.

The only thing occupying the 6-foot long 3-foot wide rectangle platform besides Holly was a chest. This chest was small and made of a tar-coated wood, the tar didn't smell and Holly realized that it was ancient tar that had dried up and solidified. Walking forward Holly peered into the chest and saw a whole lot of golden rings. Thinking she had to try one on Holly reached her hand in the chest and picked out a ring. Sliding it on her index finger Holly suddenly heard, "Can you understand me now that you have put on the ring of the spider?"

When Holly responded that she could there was no response; looking down Holly saw that the ring had burned up and was now just a charred loop of metal. '_Well that one didn't work…let's try another one? Yeah sounds like a good idea…that spider talked to me, and if I can talk back then I'll find out what it wants with me._' Holly was overjoyed, not because she would have to try on a lot of rings but because she might finally have the answers to her questions. This time not randomly grabbing one, Holly reached in to the chest and sorted through them. Buried about five inches below the mass of (what Holly considered to be useless) golden rings, was a black ring of obsidian that was the same size and shape of almost all the other golden rings surrounding it.

Thinking spiders were somewhat inherently evil and being black, which was most commonly associated with evil Holly snatched up the obsidian ring and slipped it on her right ring finger. "Ha! Picked the wrong one at first! How typical!" A voice said most likely the spider submerged in the blood. The blood level began to lower and a far off but very loud sound of a grinder could be heard. "What's that?" Holly asked, and when she spoke the ring glowed the same brightness of the cavern ceiling. Except the light coming from Holly's ring didn't sting her eyes and she could stare and marvel at its beauty without having to turn her eyes away.

"Is she awake?" "Finally, it's like she's been asleep for so long." "What should we do with her?" The three voices spoke one by one, and one by one as the voices spoke three more pairs of front spider legs emerged out of the blood and after the legs once the blood level shrank considerably the rest of the spiders emerged. Totaling four in number the arachnids were massive, easily spanning hundreds of feet. Holly realized that their height was even more enormous and that the ceiling of the endless cavern that Holly was standing in must have been at least two thousand feet tall; the spiders fit in nicely…you could even say cozy.

The scale of the creatures made Holly realized, '_Four colossal sized spiders…wow. I always saw things this size represented in video games…but in real life? Who are these creatures?_' What made Holly even more in awe was the fact that the colossal spiders were all sentient; they had voices and minds very complex and very, very smart. "What's your nature, colossi?" Holly asked the question worried that they weren't actually colossus, but they were and one of them answered Holly saying, "We are barbaric in nature, we must consume vast quantities of blood to even get the satisfaction we crave."

"Wait what about substance, don't you need anything to survive?" Asked Holly who was getting pretty scared right about now, there were four colossal spiders somewhere underneath Remnant's crust and almost no one knew about them. "Wait a moment, won't people begin to notice you? I mean that's a lot of bodies that went missing, I'm absolutely positive that people have begun to feel the effects."

Another spider responded with this dialog, after it was spoken all four colossi went dormant and silent, "We have a mighty plan for the Humans and Faunus above, we have learned much from the many young ones we have captured. There were many people of no importance that we took and drained their blood to feed out appetite. 100 young Humans and Faunus around the ages of 17 and 18 and 19 all gave us the information we needed. We know have a vast knowledge of one of the landmarks of the world above, a place of learning and training called; Beacon. We the four colossal spiders are very interested in this place you Humans and Faunus call School. We want to raze it down to the ground and consume the knowledge of all within, when we do that then we will have a lot more knowledge of the above world. We will then use that information to consume the blood and bodies of every single Human and Faunus on this planet you call Remnant."

Holly's heart nearly palpitated as she looked for a way down from the platform. She didn't need to however since a voice whispered, "Holly, hey down here."

Looking down Holly saw Adrian…floating a little ways down from where she was. Despite the conflicting positive emotions clamoring for expression Holly said somewhat angrily, "What the hell are you doing here, and how are you flying?"

"Yeah I can control the elements, which means I can manipulate the air and fly. Now quick we need to leave." Adrian beckoned to Holly and she shook her head. "Why not? Don't you want to leave the cave and come back to school? Aren't you cold in there?"

"I'm sorry what?" Holly said right before she felt herself being teleported a great distance upwards. She was now in a cave which entrance was raised a few hundred feet up a mountain. Adrian almost fell down the mountain but he managed to push himself upright. "What the hell was that?" Exclaimed Adrian, "That was so fucking cool…but where did the really big spiders go?" A voice rang out from behind Holly and Adrian saying, "Yes do tell, what was that place we were just in?"

Holly turned and looked behind her; she saw about 98 students who all looked like 'couples' from Beacon. "Really? All of us who went on a date…got kidnapped by colossal spiders?" Asked Holly somewhat disbelievingly, a Faunus with floppy rabbit ears commented, "I don't know what just happened, but I for one have quite a big headache…and my tummy hurts like mad." The innocent comment from someone (who later named herself Velvet) who spoke so frankly made everyone there realize that they too had massive headaches and severe stomach wounds. Everyone huddled together in the very large cave entrance and together their Auras began working on the individuals that possessed them.

Everyone sat there and let their Auras work their magic; someone saw some edible moss conveniently growing on the side of the cave wall. Everyone ate some and when the surprisingly substantial plant was sitting quite comfortably in all of their stomachs everyone's Auras worked double time. This made everyone sleepy so…they fell asleep. Holly and Adrian slept almost on opposite sides of the group however, Adrian was fearful that he would have to deal with another of Holly's outbursts and Holly wasn't yet ready to confront Adrian; for fear of what he might say.

As Holly lay there the Spider Ring glowed with ancient and godlike power. The force inside the ring seeped into Holly's dreams and made them a little more tolerable.

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><p>Arashi sat with Ruby in the same bench they had been sitting in for the past ten minutes; they were in the school cafeteria eating lunch. Both of them were in the 1st year class and first years on the first day of Combat Week had been assigned the evening hunt…which started at 7 P.M. and ended whenever they got finished, and a second one began at 7 P.M. the next night. This was how it would play out for all first years during all their combat weeks.<p>

Ruby commented, "I'm glad no one is around to bother us, after all I am terrible with crowds. Lots of people eavesdropping, I don't want anyone but you to hear what I have to say…"

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><p><strong>Looks like the main 'villains' have been introduced. Be sure to post comments, reviews and other such things. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	15. Hiatus Effect

**Why hello there, I said no more Authors notes but this one is completely necessary trust me. If you haven't figured it out from the title already, I'm putting this story on temporary hiatus. Don't worry this wont be permanent, but I am going to clear up my writing schedule so I can focus more on this story. Over the last week or so I've been updating two stories at the same time. Since this one has just gotten started, and will turn out to be my longest story ever written by far I've decided to jump to the story that'll take much less time to finish. My usual chapter length for stories are 45, "Hunting the Grim Chaos" is currently at 36 or 37 chapters so I have like 9 of them to go. The chapters for Fox Flower have about 3,000 words per chapter and the chapter length for "Hunting the Grim Chaos" only has a chapter length of 1,000 words. Obviously I'll be able to write HGC a lot quicker and if I get that story over and done with I'll free up my schedule a bit more. This means that I'll be uploading Fox Flower probably every other day (Monday Wednesday Friday). I'm mainly putting Fox Flower on hiatus and quickly finishing up HGC because I need to clear up my schedule for School. Really hectic at the moment and I need to create some time for that. Also please read the Authors note at the end of the chapter.**

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><p>"Let me get this straight, someone came in and rattled off about releasing an experiment in the south?" Said Roman Torchwick as he paced in front of the concrete and barbed wire barricade surrounding a White Fang stronghold hidden deep within the mountains of the north, "This person, who you still haven't told me is either a man or a woman claims to be the current leader of the White Fang? The last I head of a 'leader' was when they had tired to pull multiple high risk jobs in 6 days; this leader had distracted the forces hunting him or her by broadcasting for the 6 days the crimes were taking place. Has anyone, even the White Fang members, every found out exactly what the Leader did?"<p>

Roman's question hung in the air for a moment, right before Ry Yin, who was grinning internally at his recently thought of evil plan to take over the White Fang, snatched the question out of the air with this answer, "I have a suspicion and to be honest it's smart but old school, the Leader in the 6 days of them broadcasting went down to the farms of the south and burned the majority of them. After that, I don't know what they did."

"They left about an hour before you arrived, Roman. Even if you had shown up when they were still her they wouldn't have greeted you as they should have; you being our primary dust collector." Said Cinder, she too was grinning inside because she had weaned out the Leader's plans from them right before they left. Cinder now held all the cards to a devastating and disturbing terrorist act that would finally strike fear into the hearts of the Human leaders that had been denying the Faunus what was rightfully theirs for a very long time.

"Hmm…yes I thank you for the acknowledgment but I would also like to know more about this figure that visited you earlier. Does anyone know who it is?" Roman asked right before he got a message on, what he liked to call his super secret and very effective spy earpiece. The message was in Morse code and Roman deciphered the message to be: We have spotted the former Leader of the White Fang, request approval to apprehend and bring in for confinement and interrogation? Please answer by way of control communications network. "Alright you two, I'm sure you're both dying to answer my question, but I have just received information that my men will be apprehending this Leader within the hour. My men and women, who have spotted this, insane mongrel, will bring them in for questioning. Then we will learn of their true intentions and if they really are who we believe them to be."

"And what will you do if this person is the leader of the White Fang? Will you step down and let him take over, or will you keep your position as the most influential figure in the White Fang?" Ry asked this, and it was the first in many questions that he hoped he could use to take down Roman's leadership and take control of the White Fang. Before Roman had sought him and Cinder out, both of them had been plotting to overthrow the petty but influential big time thief. Ry had been suspicious and still was, but if Cinder was telling the truth that she had the details for the first real terrorist act of the White Fang, then he was willing to work with Cinder to overthrow Roman.

"Then I will kill them, the White Fang isn't about acts of terrorism. It's about overthrowing the current leaders of society and replacing them with the rightful rulers: the Faunus." Roman said, Ry and Cinder looked at him with blank stares. The White Fang had shifted focus a while back to more violent methods in order to obtain more substantial rights for Faunus. "What we are doing currently is ultimately for the greater good of the Faunus, I thought you two knew this? And you Ry, shame on you for not believing in what you know to be true." After Roman said this he turned to the concrete and barbed wire barrier and looked out at the mountainous landscape that surrounded White Fang headquarters.

Cinder mussed and though about what she was going to do with the Leader's information, would she still carry out the planned terrorist attack on the south? The most interesting thing about the Leader was that most of the things people knew about them were falsehoods spread around like truths to disguise what was the actual truth. The Leader was the leader of the White Fang, however since their disappearance years ago the White Fang had forgotten about their once radical leader. It had been the Leader that had pushed the Faunus to go for a more aggressive strategy on obtaining better living standards and equal rights for Faunus.

Eventually after Leader had taken hold of the White Fang and gained the trust of the group's members, the Leader had moved and reorganized the dealings and resources of the organization quite a bit. This lead to the headquarters of the White Fang being built in an old military base belonging to the northern city of the northern half of the continent Vale. "Alright Roman, when did you say that your men and women were supposed to get her with this Leader person?" Asked Ry because he wanted to go back inside the base, it was cold outside and warm inside.

"Well I need to get to command; I need to use the communications network to contact them, and relay when I want Leader delivered here. That way all of us can ask the questions we want, right before we publicly execute him, and I do mean publicly." Said Roman evilly, not realizing that his plan had a flaw, which he exposed with, "You may ask you questions individually, and I will ask mine first then Cinder and lastly Ry. When you go in to ask him and glean the desired information ask him which one of us he wishes to execute him. We will all go meet him once I radio the team to pick him up, after we give our names you two will leave and we'll begin the process."

"And why are we doing this?" Cinder asked, "I mean it makes sense, but why would be just walk up to Leader and start asking question we have no idea if they'll answer or not? And how do know Leader is a he?" Roman keeping his composure when really he wanted to strangle Cinder for such a misguided comment said, "I don't know what gender Leader is, I was taking a wild guess. Now come, we have much work to do and little time to do it in." With those words Roman marched back to the building of the compound itself. Once inside he headed almost immediately for the central hub, which housed a safe encrypted network in which the White Fang could use to communicate.

Cinder and Ry both fell back behind Roman and began to whisper conspiratorially. Ry began the betrayal discussion with, "What do you think so far, should we go for the execution of the terrorist plan you were talking about? Or should we go ahead with my idea and off Roman?" "I think we should go ahead with the plan, but use it not as an act of terrorism but use it to better the original cause of the White Fang that had begun with the Leader's regime. I was here before the Leader instated themselves as the leader of the White Fang, and this organization before it got its new leadership? Wasn't getting anything done." Said Cinder who kept her real motives away from everyone she met, all she currently was after was to accomplish the goals set by her father who was currently posing as the long dead Leader.

What Cinder wasn't telling anyone, and especially not Ry or Roman was that Leader was dead. Cinder herself had paid a personal visit to the prison in which Leader was being kept, and had killed Leader in cold blood. The figure known as Leader had been dead for years now, but no one knew this however except Cinder. When she had pulled off the murder her father had willingly agreed to substitute for Leader in the prison cell, just so Cinder wouldn't get caught. What Cinder hadn't planned for was that Leader's jailers weren't quite finished torturing the White Fang leader.

And so many years later Cinder watched Roman command the small defense and scouting team of loyal White Fang members to capture her father and bring him in for questioning. When her father arrived Cinder kept a perfect straight face on, she didn't want anyone to discover the truth. More importantly Cinder didn't want two certain some ones finding out about her. Leader was escorted to a fairly lit; four walls made of concrete, interrogation room. They sat Leader down in a chair and chained him there; the devoted members recognized their former leader. However the faithful members had been assigned to watch over the building dubbed White Fang HQ by the very same person sitting before them bound in chains.

"Why am I here? What's going on, I demand to know! Damnit someone tell me!" Leader shouted, the person Cinder had been previously in her life would have burst into tears and fallen on her knees in front of Roman begging for her father's release. The person Cinder had been would've told Roman that the only reason he was current leader of the White Fang was because of her; she had murdered the old leader and that allowed him to rise to power. Roman, a human, became the leader of the White Fang, which was compromised mainly of Faunus because he shared the same goals as them. He hated and despised the current leadership of Vale and most of the rest of the world.

"Welcome, I'm sure you have some questions…but we will be asking the questions. My name is Roman Torchwick, this young man standing to my left is Ry Yin, and this lovely but deadly woman standing to my right is Cinder Fall." Roman said out loud so everyone including Leader could hear him. However once he said this roman whispered to the two people on either side of him, "All right now that you see leader, and we can clearly tell that he is a man; Cinder! I highly suggest that you question this man first, after all you might be able to soften him up for us."

Cinder grinned and said evilly, "Oh don't worry I'll soften him up." '_By burning his body to a pile, of very soft ashes._' One of Cinder's specialties was working with fire, she wasn't as good as Ry and didn't have the same flare as him; but most of Cinder's magic was based around the red Dust. Once Roman and Ry had exited the building, Cinder turned to the shell of a man that once was her father, "So old man, do you want to die?" "Oh yes, please just kill me and end this torment. I've stood in for you for long enough haven't I? No ones found out about you tertiary, am I right? Was my sacrifice of my life in vain?" Leader sagged back into the chair and closed his eyes, which snapped shut right before Cinder earned her name by reducing her father to a pile of cinders.

Laughing as she walked out Cinder told them that she knew what the Leader had planned during the 6 day broadcast, what the Leader had planted in various locations around Vale, and what the Leader had planned for the White Fang. When in reality it would be all of Cinder's choices that led the White Fang from that moment onward.

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><p>After a few seconds Arashi shook his head to clear it and asked interested, "And why would you say that?" Arashi and Ruby sat in a deserted lunchroom, during lunchtime. Both of them were first years and they wouldn't be going on to accomplish their combat assignments until 7 O' clock that evening. Ruby's mouth opened and closed only slightly as she thought of what words she wanted to say to Arashi. '<em>What should I do? Tell him thanks? But for what, he hasn't done anything really incredible to save my life lately; the one I should be thanking is Weiss…no wait. There is a reason I came to talk with Arashi alone.<em>'

Ruby's thoughts spun round and round in her head, and before she could voice them a particular person she had been thinking of in her mind came wondering in to the lunchroom. Weiss sat down next to Ruby and asked Arashi, "Why are you two sitting in here, and why aren't you two out getting your stuff ready? You do realize that the stuff Ozpin is giving us first years will take us most of the week if not a few days to complete…don't you?"

Ruby turned to her partner and said; "Actually neither of us know anything about that, but thanks for telling me. Could you give me a few moments alone with Arashi? I just want to talk with him about a few things, you know since we're both team leaders?" Ruby batted her eyelashes and Weiss almost grumbled. It was obviously meant to pull a few heartstrings and it did; Weiss was intensely attracted to female beauty, and since Ruby was very beautiful the batting of her eye lashes and the look Ruby gave her was enough to convince Weiss to leave the room and give her and Arashi some privacy.

"What I meant to ask you, before Weiss came in, was weather or not you would…consider being mine? I considered asking you out for a date but then I realized since a few hours ago that all the couples who go on dates seem to be disappearing I thought we might just pledge to each other and then probably maybe do something so no one will catch wind and somehow inform whoever or whatever is kidnapping dating couples." Ruby rambled on somewhat haltingly for almost 5 minutes when she finished Ruby took a deep breath and asked, "Since we've been getting to know each other pretty well over the past week…I was wondering…you want to be my boyfriend?"

Arashi was stunned into silence, this was as he had feared; it looked like he would be getting so close to Ruby that distractions would definitely occur. But looking into Ruby's eyes Arashi saw something that disturbed him, a small glimpse for a fraction of a second that nearly sent Arashi's head into a spin. Since Ruby was staring at the table intently waiting for Arashi's answer Arashi could tell without looking into her eyes that she was nervous. When Arashi had looked into Ruby's eyes he had noticed that her eyes had widened and then her cheeks burned and now Ruby was half studying the table.

Ruby's posture was bent over so Arashi couldn't see Ruby's eyes, his strange but useful ability of knowing people's emotions just by looking into their eyes wasn't as potent if he wasn't had locked eyes with them. Even though Arashi didn't have full eye contact with Ruby he was still to glean the nervousness but also hopefulness contained within Ruby's eyes. So deciding to act on a hunch Arashi said rather plainly, even though he knew it would mean a lot to Ruby, "I will be your boyfriend, but on a few conditions. It wont initially be like a traditional paring, now before you start panicking let me explain."

"Okay wait…hold on a minute. Can't we still be a traditional pairing?" Ruby asked desperately to which Arashi answered with a warm smile of reassurance." Sure we can definitely do that, it's just that I was wondering if you would go on a date with me this coming Friday? It seems that Saturday is cursed, ha. Can we just like, I don't know…pledge to each other that we wont go after anyone else?" Ruby accepted the offer but added in another condition that they keep it secret form everyone else at least until they went on the date.

Giving Arashi a long and personal hug Ruby gave him a hasty peck on the lips that transformed into 30 seconds in which Ruby nearly ended up straddling Arashi, if things had gone any farther Arashi would have pushed Ruby down on the table and had her way with her. However Arashi had the decency to remember that Ruby and him needed to get going, so despite him desperately not wanting to Arashi ended the passionate moment by stepping back and saying, "Ah wow, that was exciting! Listen Ruby I enjoyed that but I have two feelings. One we should probably do some quick packing for tonight's combat assignment, the other feeling is that I should probably talk with you sister first before getting into a too serious of a relationship with you. I mean you good looking and all, but I can still tell that you're kind of young. Anyway hope to see you Friday Ruby!"

After the farewell Ruby walked out into the hall to find Weiss, who was just about to come inside and grab her. "Come one Ruby! You dolt do you want to be unprepared for your first Combat Week? I think you don't, so come on!" And with that Weiss grabbed Ruby's wrist and dragged her along to the communal student and teacher washer and dryer room. Which was just filled with washers and dryers that students and faculty living on campus could use to do their laundry. "And why did we come here exactly?" Ruby asked somewhat nervous of the way Weiss was being so pushy.

Weiss looked over at her partner's face from across the room, once Weiss saw Ruby's nervousness she commented, "Aw calm down Ruby, I'm only taking you here so one you'll know that it even exists and two so we can get mine and your combat outfits. I just put them into was about 10 minutes ago. They'll take a couple more minutes to wash since I really had to make these things work so they'll remove the bloodstains."

"Okay and I'm assuming we'll have to stitch the tears? Yeah great, I thought so." Ruby said and exactly a minute and a half later two washers dinged signifying that they had finished with their load. Weiss walked over to one of them and said to Ruby, "The other one contains your load, this one contains mine. Once you take you outfit out, you'll need to sort them. I put everything in there, since most of you stuff is and black and since those two colors don't mix in dust powered washers." When Ruby asked what Weiss put in both washers Weiss replied with, "Why don't you open the damn door of the washer, and find out/"

"Okay, hey I'm sorry I don't want to start a fight!" Ruby said hurriedly because she actually meant it, she really didn't want to have a relationship with Weiss that meant fighting would become a regular thing. Since Weiss just said nothing Ruby decided to say nothing…at least for the remainder of the laundry room visit. '_Hmm…let's see first off we have…panties?_' Ruby was slightly horrified and embarrassed but looking to her left she saw someone who would never be embarrassed about stuff like that with Ruby, which was comforting and Ruby liked that.

So Ruby, deciding to not say anything because she realized that she would need plenty of underwear in the coming week, took the clothes out from the washer and began sorting them on one of the tables. Thankfully some one had the foresight of preventing awkward situations and had built a low barrier just enough so people couldn't see the clothes the person across from them were sorting. Ruby saw only three panties, which weren't really that; Ruby wasn't shapely enough to be confident enough to were the skinnier type of panties. The type of underwear Ruby wore was substantial enough to cover Ruby's butt and crotch enough to not show hardly anything. The real reason Ruby did this mainly because she wore a combat skirt and if (heaven forbid) some one somehow saw her without her skirt on they wouldn't exactly get flashed.

Ruby's bra was almost a completely different story. Apparently Ruby's mother had equally a voluptuous bust as Yang's mom, and it seemed that both sister's mothers had passed on their assets to their daughters. It would seem however that Ruby was developing slower than Yang had, but nevertheless Ruby had developed enough to warrant the need of a bra. Among the three pairs of 'panties' and bras that made up Ruby's (hopefully) none visible wardrobe was her only combat skirt. Despite the blood being removed Ruby could still tell that it was the same combat skirt that she had worn during the fight with the Ursa, the same went for the black and red, light but still substantial, combat blouse (which was comprised of a fitting shirt with sleeves that stopped just at her elbows).

Ruby did have a variation of the 'shirt' that was for winter combat, which was a curiously comfortable put practical silk infused with cotton jacket with sleeves that stopped at Ruby's wrists. Once Ruby had sorted the clothes she heard Weiss say the thing that Ruby had kind of worked out for herself, "Now do you have everything? If you do then I want you to completely undress, then redress with the outfit you have laid out and sorted in front of you. I'll do the same, just toss you school uniforms in the same washer as mine; a staff member will be along shortly to retrieve them once their done."

"These are oddly specific instructions…oh my god, I just thought of something. What time is it?" Ruby asked frantically. Weiss replied saying that it was less then an hour and a half until 6:45, which was the time that all first years had to report to Goodwitch to get their assignments. "Ah in that case…are we just gonna strip down here…I mean right in front of each other?" "Rudy I want this partnership to have…benefits, you understand me right? Oh of course, you're a bit confused I'll explain. Obviously thanks to my upbringing I became addicted to the literal taste of my sister I've become somewhat addicted to well lesbian sex. I'm not asking you to fuck me; although I wouldn't mind if you did it's just that I want to share each other's bodies. I at least want us to be at the level we were at when we washed our puss filled scares. So shut up and change, besides I love staring at your…"

"Okay! I get it, and I'm curious too; be we really need to hurry. We don't have long to prepare our other stuff to go on a potentially two day long combat mission." And with that slight rebuff Ruby stripped every single clothing item off her body, and thanks to Ruby's reminder that they had to hurry Weiss didn't even stare for that long at Ruby's nakedness. Ruby caught Weiss looked and blushed furiously before reminding Weiss of the time; Weiss didn't blush but simply turned her head and continued dressing herself. This only made Ruby blush harder. Once the two partners had gotten dressed they sped down to team RWBY's dorm room and gathered their stuff, Weiss packed dust for Myrnaster and Ruby packed loaded ammo cartridges for Crescent Rose. Besides that Ruby and Weiss took two extra bags containing enough water and light but delicious food for the both of them.

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><p>Yang was having a dream about a nice lizard man offering her tea. When Yang realized that it wasn't a dream, but reality and most likely a memory she woke up. Across the group of people who were slowly waking up, and testing their bodies for the injuries, Yang saw a sight that at first shocked her but only made sense later once she thought about it. It was a girl with…literally no hair on her head, she didn't even have eyebrows, '<em>No eyebrows, and no hair huh? Wow she must have…no I better not jump to conclusions. I'm gonna go ask her.<em>' Yang made up her mind to get up and go talk to the girl and get to know her (Yang had picked her out of the crowd not because of the fact that she had no hair, but because she looked lonely). But first Yang took the time to evaluate herself, and to check for injuries.

A painful feeling persisted in her stomach despite her aura healing that part of her body rather fast, despite Yang's…_round_ appearance in some places mainly her butt and boobs she was almost all muscle. Yang certainly had lots of definition in almost every part of her body, in fact if anyone took the time to look away from Yang's boobs they would see the ripped forearms and legs that Yang was in no way embarrassed about. After all she loved the looks she got when people got when she stared them down and started flexing her biceps; which almost always had a comedic effect which mad Yang laugh, this of course eased up the situation immediately and made the other person laugh.

Yang regularly did this to people she met or knew and wanted to tease, thanks to the fact that Yang always showed in the end that she was joking everyone spread the news that Yang had a great personality to match her great body. Ruby was embarrassed whenever people would walk up to Yang and openly and boldly give her indecent comments hoping to score some of that 'sweet Yang love'. Whenever this happened when Ruby was present Yang just punched them a couple of times then they would walk off and Ruby would sigh in relief. Whenever someone had approached Yang in secret, which basically meant that they caught her without her sister Yang would give them a brief taste right before she jammed her fist straight into their kidney.

Many a time Ruby had found Yang dragging some poor unconscious bastard by his feet. Yang's mind drifted and she forgot the bald girl temporarily and remembered the first time she had defended her virginity by punching someone in the kidney. _A bell tolled and Yang looked up to see someone was up in the bell tower tugging on the rope. They had on a muffler hat so them being so near the bell wouldn't deafen them. Yang was walking home from her last day at Signal and was passing the local monastery…well the town was local to the monastery since the town had been built around the long standing structure._

_The happy island town known as Sunset mainly because of the beautiful sunsets the occupants of the island got to view almost every night. Yang sighed when she realized that it wasn't like their original home, the academy of signal was built on an island and therefore was fairly small. But then again the entire campus, which included family housing, basically covered the entire island. Yang's mind drifted to places it shouldn't often when Ruby wasn't around Yang to remind her of innocence. And because of the mind drifting Yang didn't notice the perpetrator until it was too late._

_He walked up to Yang and said something sexy and very provocative, seeing that the comment made Yang stop but not turn toward him he tried again with another comment almost as provocative. This time Yang got closer and the man became excited, at this point Yang could clearly tell that this man was a pedophile and walked around looking for teenagers to take advantage of. So Yang being the person she was decided to punch the pedophile straight in the kidney. Yang delivered the punch so hard that the man not only puked but he seemed to puke so hard that he blacked out._

The entertaining memory was suddenly lost to Yang when she saw the bald girl look around at everyone; and suddenly realizing that everyone would realize that she had no hair got up and slowly walked to the edge of the cliff. Deciding to be swift but discrete Yang practically sprinted, but silently, over to the place where the girl had gotten up. Snatching a white but very bloodstained fedora that Yang hopped was used for what she thought it was used for. As much as Yang wanted to relive the memory of her beating the living crap out of a pedophile she needed to stop this obvious suicide attempt.

Rushing forward Yang caught the girl in one of her bear hugs, only this time Yang hugged the girl to her ample chest to keep her from falling to her death a hundred feet below. The girl probably would've survived with only a few broken limbs but that would only be the case if the ground weren't littered with very sharp almost spike like rocks, Yang struggled momentarily with the girl since she obviously had some hidden strength. Yang however prevailed and prevented the girl form committing suicide by placing the girl next to her and putting her fedora firmly on her head.

When the first people were done moaning and groaning about the fact that they still had headaches and stomach hurts, they looked to the only two people standing. Two girls one of whom they recognized as the high spirited and boisterous Yang Xaio Long. Almost no knew whom the other girl was, the one standing in all red; long sleeved blouse, cargo pants and scarf to match and tie the whole outfit off. It looked rather like the girl was dressed in blood, and Holly liked it that way. It said something about her; the blood being all the knowledge she carried with her about the Grimm, and it being her proudest accomplishment.

"So let's not talk about how you almost committed suicide, yet…let's do names first. My name's Yang Xaio Long." Yang said introducing herself, "And what's your name? Oh Holly, wonderful and lovely name I must say. I also gotta ask why did you just try and jump off this here cliff?" the last question was spoken by Yang in a hushed whisper so the others wouldn't overhear their conversation. Seeing the hesitant look on Holly's face Yang hurriedly added, "You can tell me, I swear on my life that I wont tell anyone. And besides I'll confess a few things."

Holly asked a quick clarification question on weather Yang was trying to become her friend, when Yang nodded Holly sighed and said, "Thank goodness, I've heard about your personality and I've seen the way you take care of your sister who obviously doesn't do well in public. So I am glad you want to be my friend." "That's great and all Holly, but you still haven't answered my question, why did you just attempt to commit suicide?" Yang interrupted to ask and Holly responded somewhat absentmindedly but intent enough for Yang to know that she was telling the truth, "I guess I wasn't thinking, and I let the depression come back for a second."

Holly stopped for a moment, and once she had her thoughts focused and headed down the appropriate track she continued, "I'm usually good at keeping it down, but lately with what's just happened and the fight I had during our Saturday date with Adrian just bummed me out. You must have had it too, I see you sleeping next to that lizard Faunus but you don't look like you're having a good time. He was your date right?" Holly asked and both girls looked back quickly to see Cero stretch and stare back at both of them, his gaze did seem to constantly go to Holly but always seemed to focus more on Yang.

Yang looked away from Cero and searched the crowd for a more friendly face, she found Blake sitting with another boy who was very handsome and had slightly wavy short blonde hair. The boy lifted Blake up from the ground and Blake's arm lingered on his arm for a moment, but once Blake caught Yang's accusatory stare and her raised eyebrow Blake dropped her hand and hurriedly walked to the cave wall to scour for more edible moss. The boy seeing Yang still looking in his direction sauntered over, he introduced himself by saying, "Hey there, I'm Sun! I'm also not a student going to Beacon, well not currently anyway."

"Ah I see, so you're interested in Blake then?" Yang asked very curious and Sun satisfied Yang's curiosity by saying very bluntly, "Why yes I am indeed very, very, very interested in your amusing friend Blake. Although I feel like she may fancy you more than me, she did agree to go on a date Saturday, which didn't turn out to well did it? Ha, I guess not, crazy though isn't it I mean those were some huge spiders!"

"Yeah that's true, so why do you not go to Beacon?" Yang asked innocently but wasn't expecting Sun's answer. "Oh I'm 21, yeah I know and I'm going after someone who's 17, but I'm not gonna get like really serious with her until she's at least in her fourth year at Beacon. Or her third maybe even her second, but I refuse to tackle her literally and trust me when I say that I do want to; I'll wait until she's older and can handle it. I actually look a lot younger than I actually am, so I might be able to visit Beacon campus one of these days, I might even bring a friend who knows? Anywhosers I'm going to go pay more attention to Blake than you."

Yang laughed at this and pointed out, "Yeah you probably should she's practically giving me the stink eye like she thinks I'm gonna steal you from her." Once Sun sauntered back to Blake Yang turned back to see that Holly had gone to where she had slept, walking over to her Yang saw that Holly was somewhat lacking in stuff. When Holly looked around she saw that so was everyone else, everyone was a lot lacking in stuff in fact. Deciding to pass the time with a question or two more direction at Holly Yang asked Holly, "What's the situation with Adrian? Did it have to do something with the spiders messing with our head right before they nabbed us, or was it something else?"

"To tell you the truth, I'd rather not saw here what cause it; but basically I had a rather emotional and hormonal outburst, and as you can imagine I directed it at the nearest person which just so happened to be Adrian. I still don't feel comfortable going over there and talking to him about it, when I should be. I should be talking to him right now instead of you, but I have a feeling like the spiders still know where we are and are still messing with our emotions when it comes to our date partners." Said Holly who got Yang to agree with her completely.

Yang got up and walked over to Cero, determined to over come the spiders influence and talk with Cero about what had happened. Yang was about to do this when she realized how stupid it was, really why go talk to him when Yang already knew the reason she had separated herself from him was real, and not some form of manipulation? Instead Yang went to pick cave moss.

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><p>The rest of the day went rather well, right up until the headaches returned. It happened to everyone and almost simultaneously; every ones Auras weren't at full strength either, the moss they had been eating turned out to be something entirely different from what they had originally thought. It contained a special kind of poison that was slowly returning everyone to the state they had been almost 24 hours previously. Yang didn't like it and neither did Blake, then out of the clear blue Yang said, "Hey Blake, why hasn't anyone thought of calling for help? I mean we all still have out scrolls, right?"<p>

"Uh no, Yang I'm gonna make something clear here, did you or you 'date' bring you scroll?" Asked Blake who upon getting a shake of the head from Yang continued with, "Right no one did, and the Scroll is used by everyone for school. If you were going to go on a date, would you want to bring the very thing that reminds you of school the most, besides being in school itself? No you wouldn't, while that idea is a good one, I highly doubt anyone here brought their scroll." Blake sat down with her back against the cave wall, looking at her surroundings Blake saw that the cave actually extended farther back into the cliff than she had originally thought.

"Oh, look what you've discovered Blake! It's a tunnel that leads into the cave, I wonder what's down there…want to look?" Yang asked, "I mean come on, now that we all know that this moss was a trick-" "Hold on there Yang, I don't think the moss we ate before going to sleep was bad, it was the stuff we ate after we woke up that's causing problems. Think about it, did the moss we eat this morning taste any different than the stuff we ate last night?" Asked Blake who had been thinking about this ever since she had eaten some, originally Blake wasn't going to eat any but Yang insisted and since they were partners and the trust Blake was starting to develop with Yang; basically Blake went against her better judgment and ate some more of the moss.

"Ah damnit it's my fault. If I hadn't made you eat any of it, you probably would've been unaffected." Said Yang quite somberly. Blake nudged her partner and asked if they could go check out the cave, to see if there were any more of the good moss. "Ah good idea Blake that gives me an idea. You know what? Let's go and explore, and I'll think while we walk!" Blake agreeing to the plan and sat up, a dizzy spell nearly knocked Blake to her feet. When Yang was about to shout in worry and alarm Blake held out a hand and said, "No it's not that, I can just sense that something is about to happen. Something…within the shadows is stirring in the real world. Our world as a matter of fact, here's my idea; once we get back from finding some food why don't we sort of sit that girl down and question her. You ever notice that she has a ring on that glows all sorts of colors?"

"No Blake I have a feeling like that's just your Faunus eyesight seeing more colors. What I see whenever Holly's ring glows, is a white radiant light; you must be seeing the spectrum of colors. Damn, that's actually pretty cool!" Yang complimented Blake as the both of them continued to walk down the ever lengthening cave entrance. "Now even I'm a little scared, how about after a few more feet we turn back? And besides the light will dim because of that bend in the tunnel." When the two girls got to the spot where Yang thought the tunnel curved they found that in reality the tunnel ended; a good fifty feet now stretched between them and open air, the only reason they had light was because of the sun shining through the mouth of the cave as it was setting. Which meant of course that the cave entrance faced west.

It wasn't the tunnel stopping that made Yang and Blake stop (even though that sounds stupid) what really made them stop was the fact that to the left and a little ways in was a door. This door was made of wood that looked very exotic, which confused the hell you of both Yang and Blake. They hadn't seen any trees either up the mountain or down it. The valley below the cave entrance was just a great plain of grass extending about 7,000 miles west until it reached about 10 miles, yes 10, of beach land. After that was the ship lane, it was a long stretch and a fairly wide channel of ocean water that separated the continent of Vale from the southern continent.

"Hey Blake remind me again, which continent has a lot of farm land?" Yang asked, and Blake responded with. "Honestly? I think it's just called southern Vale…even though I'm positive that it has an actual name, I haven't gotten to far into geography class to learn the names of the different continents. But, and you should really remember this Yang it'll help you, I did learn that there are supposedly a lot more than just three continents." The three Blake was speaking of were Vale, Suthix, and the largest Vytal. The continent of Vytal was rumored to be one of two spines holding the planet of Remnant together. Vytal was so large that most of it was unexplored; in fact scientists who study the geography have predicted that the planet of Remnant was about 47% unexplored, but for good reason.

"Either that's a really good stone painting of wood, or that's an actual door. How much you want to bet that it's an actual door?" Yang asked right before Blake just walked up to it and knocked. "Oh sure that's a good idea, you'd think that if someone was living her that they'd of hear us by now." "Yang, shush! Didn't you hear how loud that knock was? And I'm not gonna do it hard, watch and listen." Blake said and she knocked on the wooden door again. The sound made from Blake's knock wasn't hard enough to make the great reverberating sound that seemed to hum though the mountain. "Well whatever's doing that it'll most likely bring whatever made this door outside, not sure if that's a good idea. Doesn't this look oddly like a prison?"

"Yes it is a prison, and you are currently blocking the entrance that we need to get through to find our target…you two okay? You're literally lot looking so hot." The speaker came from behind them and when Blake and Yang turned around they realized that it was a 4th year from Beacon. They could tell because of a somewhat standard issue combat uniform that Beacon had on hand just in case someone forgot or damaged theirs. "I can tell by the looks on you faces that you don't know how I got here…well to be quite frank neither do I. My names Jackson, and I'll tell you something. Those Beacon administrators have some funky technology, like teleport machines or something."

Once Jackson had given his explanation Yang and Blake stepped aside so him and his team of roughly…well too many 4th year students for either Yang or Blake to count. When Blake asked why there were so many of them, the last person to enter the now mysteriously open door said, "Oh we're just food. The four masters need to be fed, and we're perfect. All the nutrients that they need right here in our blood, you 100 weren't satisfying enough so they stole half the 4th years at Beacon and are planning on consuming them." The girl spoke in a possessed monotone that scared the living hell out of both Blake and Yang.

After the girl walked inside the pitch-black cave, the door materialized suddenly back into place. Blake pounded a fist against it and ended up hurting her hand so much that Yang had to hold her back. "Whoa there, there's no need to do that. I mean we have been missing for two days now, but that's really no reason to panic." Yang said reassuringly even tough to Yang's ears it didn't sound very reassuring. Almost as if to confirm their worst fears about what had just happened Yang and Blake could hear torturous screams echoing up from the below the mountain and into their minds. Groaning Yang moved rapidly away from the door, Blake followed and she noticed that as they got farther away from the door the less they could her the screams.

The real problem arose when Yang and Blake reached the cave entrance. They saw almost everyone lying on the ground writhing in pain; the sight of all the suffering stopped both girls dead in their tracks. It wasn't long before some of them began imitating the death screams from the 4th years that had just entered and been devoured by the mountain; they cried their death cries even though they were still alive. It was horrendous and Yang almost curled up into a ball to try and block out the sound and sight of it all. It was Blake however that lowered Yang's level of panic a bit when she said, "Look Yang a lot of the people aren't scream or writhing in pain. Sun, Velvet, that lizard bloke Cero, that girl who I think is named Holly, that black dude…and that's about it. A few others but I feel like only 10 people out of this 100 actually might make it out of here."

"Don't be ridiculous…you're serious aren't you? You mean to tell me that hundreds of kids are just…going to die? And why can't we do something about this, I mean come on!" Yang almost yelled but felt that the excessively loud noise would only make the people suffering from headaches suffer worse. When Yang looked around she did indeed see Holly, Sun, Cero, and a great looking black dude that were all standing when everyone else was on the ground. Everyone who was suffering was now clutching him self or her self in a fetal position and crying softly in pain. It was most disturbing how almost all the students being affected were acting like they were being controlled.

Yang who feared for both her life and Blake's equally said, "Hey you know what we should do? Go talk to that Holly girl, and ask her about the ring!" Blake followed Yang as she slowly worked her way along the edge of the cave entrance towards Holly, who was currently standing about 5 feet from the edge of the cliff. When Yang and Blake reached Holly they asked, "Hey we were wondering, how exactly did we get out of the…chamber of blood?"

"I had a feeling that you would ask that, and I have an answer. It's complicated but I'm sure you all will be willing to listen." Holly began and seeing that about 9 students were gathered around her when the remaining 90 were walking down a tunnel that lead to what Holly liked to call the spiders' feeding chute. What Holly wouldn't dare tell anyone was that the ring she was wearing could allow her to listen in on the four colossal spiders chatter, and right know they were somehow transporting hundreds of Beacon students to the legendary and long lost cave of Suthix. The spiders were also feeding and Holly didn't particularly enjoy listening to that part of their talk, "The thing that flashed through my mind after a few moments when I put on the ring was this place. It's apparently a cave that's been hidden in legend and shrouded in the myth of the continent Suthix for years. And once I thought of that then the ring transported me here. Obviously I picked a bad spot because this is the spiders' feeding cute.

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><p><em>5 days later<em>

Ruby sat at the table and contemplated all that had happened during the last week. First of all was the unexpected and equally happy and depressing of the return of some of the students from the missing 100. This would've been great news…except only 10 had returned out of the 100. This saddened Ruby mainly because she knew that the other 10 had died, she was thankful enough that Yang and Blake had survived as well as all the others, but Ruby still couldn't shake the feeling of absolute hopelessness. Yang still hadn't told Ruby all the details; in fact they hadn't seen each other at all during the rest of their combat week since Blake and Yang had gotten assigned to a different team.

Without much to go on Ruby assumed the worst, after all how could she not? Not only had 90 students been reported as dead, so had half of the 4th years. There used to be 600 4th year students but that number was now sitting at 300 because half the 4th years had died. How did everyone suddenly know they were dead? Well Ruby was currently feeling what the administrators called, 'the physical passing of those who were much practiced in Aura Semblance. You're special Ruby, only those with very special connection to their Auras could have felt what you are feeling. The one thing Ruby wondered was, how long would this feeling of life passing on last?

Ruby didn't particularly enjoy it since the feelings she was getting were ones of relief so great that it made Ruby sad that she was still alive. If Yang knew Ruby's thoughts she would probably try and dissuade Ruby from thinking like that, and every time Yang tried that Ruby always wanted to say, "You don't have to say that Yang, every time I'm near you I can suppress my depressed side long enough to function." What Ruby wanted to say to Yang now was, "Since we've been apart for so long, I've been getting these feelings again; I'm afraid I might have serious depression."

Ruby was about to plummet over the edge when she ran smack into a girl, both of them fell over and Ruby got up apologizing, "Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't see where I was going. My mistake I wasn't focused."

"Oh no it's my fault. My names Penney, perhaps since you look a little depressed I can make you more happy?" And with that Penney chattered at Ruby making her cry but then laugh hysterically non-stop for almost 10 minutes. After that the strange girl nervously turned around and sped away from Ruby. Ruby was currently outside the front door of Beacon and Penney had just run off in the opposite direction. As the brown haired Huntress in training looked after her she wondered, '_How will things return to the way they were? It'll take something really silly but awesome to make everyone forget what has happened._'

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><p><strong>Hello there, the only two reasons you're currently reading this AN is because 1) you've reached the end of the chapter or 2) you have come from the A/N at the beginning of the chapter. Anywhosers I seriously need you guys to review some of the chapters so far. I know for a bit there it looked like I was going to follow the first season of RWBY, but obviously with this chapter I derailed from that heavily. Just to inform you when I eventually pull this story out of its hiatus it will follow season two of RWBY. The next time around I'll stick more closely to the actual second season story line, and obvious tweak the characters and the dialog. Also the main villain wont be Roman Torchwick, so much as it'll either be Cinder or Ry Yin. The chapter to look for when this story is officially off hiatus is "Food Fight". It will obviously be a recreation of the food fight from the beginning of season two of RWBY.**

**I heavily apologize for all the grammar mistakes that you have no doubt found in the chapter. If you could please seriously send me some reviews that would help me out a lot!**


	16. Best Day Ever Pt 1 Beginning

**You people might amaze me if you still read this after the long Hiatus ... either way here it is. Obviously the retelling is just that a retelling, so the events wont take place in the order that you might have gotten used to while watching the episodes. So anyway, this story is officially off Hiatus, but since I will be following volume/season 2 of RWBY the uploads will be MUCH slower than my usual, sorry! :( I'll do my best though, just hand in there, I'll try my best! Enjoy!**

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><p><em>A <em>_Little Less Than One Year Later …_

The sunshine fell through the leafy treetops, and Ruby thought the day started off quite well … almost like a fairy tail. She was sitting under on of the most beautiful spots on campus, a group of trees that had been planted in a loose semicircle so if someone (like Ruby) sat down they would be in a peaceful – and beautiful – atmosphere. Things weren't right though, Ruby could guess what people were feeling; and based on what she'd seen things weren't pretty. It seemed both teams RWBY and JNPR were still suffering from some kind of fallback from … the event of last year. Team ICRS had, once the new school year began, gone to Ruby for advice. Each one came right after the other, and came to Ruby expressing their fears that the nightmares would swallow them. The four members of team ICRS, Holly Scordato, Adrian Cross, Cero Radek, and Arashi Inazuma, did not know that their fellow team members had gone to Ruby for help.

Over the summer Ruby had, very discretely, done a few favors for each of the team members. Holly needed a few things from a few archives on Grimm, Adrian wanted a few books on controlling supernatural powers, Cero in the event of failing with Yang had successfully taken Ruby on more than a few dates in the last three months. The only real problem Ruby saw with that though is she had also gone on more than a few dates with Arashi over the summer as well.

Both guys – who were both at least two years older than her, Ruby guessed – came to Ruby for advice mainly because they both thought that she was their own girlfriend; neither one knew about the other of course, but that still made Ruby nervous. She didn't have any serious interest in Cero at all, except his dates were usually more harebrain than Arashi's; although the dates with Arashi had been a hell of a lot more romantic than the ones with Cero. Still both guys Ruby liked, and that scared the piss out of her. Who should she go to for help? The day may have started off well, but once Ruby realized her current … social predicament, she got quite depressed.

'_Well that wont do any good…a ha! I got the perfect idea, for the start to the perfect day!_' And so with that thought Ruby set out to … borrow a book with blank pages. Ruby then rushed back to her room, once she got there, Ruby went on her hands and knees to pry a floorboard loose under Yang's bed frame. Underneath hidden in a medium sized niche was a box. Ruby then began constructing a plan, it would be the perfect plan, and she had included everyone in it … well almost everyone.

Ruby felt a little guilty halfway in constructing her perfect plan, mainly because she wouldn't be include all her friends. But team ICRS seemed like they treated Ruby as a means to an end. Ruby's head hurt as she tried to think, and as she tried sorting through her feelings. Temporarily abandoning the preparation for her prefect plan for a perfect first day of the second year of school, Ruby sat in the middle of Yang's bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. Tears began streaking their way down Ruby's cheeks; they didn't make Ruby feel any better so she tried stopping.

Since Ruby refused to cry, her body got the idea of shaking itself like she was cold; which was highly annoying since Ruby couldn't open her mouth, or unclench her teeth for fear of the almost uncontrollable chattering severing her tongue from her mouth. As the shaking got worse, so did Ruby's psychical state; tears now ran freely down Ruby's face, that and when Ruby looked in the mirror she saw herself turning white as a sheet. '_Damn it, it's stress I know it is … okay calm down Rubles. You can do this … I wish Yang was here._'

And wish it she did, but no matter how hard she did Ruby's wish didn't come true. The panic attack stuck hard and fast, when Ruby checked the time on her small alarm (the one she used to get up early enough to blow the whistle) Ruby saw that the attack had only lasted about a minute. '_So much had happened though, in just a minute … is it over? Just have to make sure, just look in the mirror Rubles, you can do this!_' The sight wasn't pretty, Ruby looked normal, that's when Ruby realized that she never really thought much about herself or that she was good looking at all.

Still, Ruby had to keep up the attitude Yang had taught her while growing up; it had saved her from attacks like this one before. Ruby's life style wasn't what people expected it to be, and when they found out what it really was people usually shunned her. It had happened very briefly with her uncle Qrow, he had and probably still shunned her. Ruby's father when he found out he said, "Listen Ruby, as long as you take care of yourself, and Yang you should be fine." Of course to avoid the wrath of his older brother, Ruby's father had to confront her and Yang, he gave them a lecture about staying on the straight and narrow.

Yang had taken the lesson to heart, and seemed to live that way … most of the time. Truth is the only thing different about Yang after their father's only lecture directed at them, was that she never let Ruby do the things she did. And for the most part that was true … except for what happened and was probably still happening with Arashi and Cero; Ruby had stayed away from the slightly … how her dad put it … immoral things Yang tended to get involved in. That didn't mean that Ruby didn't do things that she wasn't proud of, but still, '_Nothing will get in the way of this perfect day … cept maybe a confrontation between my two boyfriends, but I'm hoping that won't happen.'_

* * *

><p>A student supposedly late for lunch opened the doors and walked inside the particularly crowded lunchroom. After finding a spot to sit down he looked around, in disguise Ry Yin studied the students around him searching for a few in particular; as Ry did so he rested his hand on the explosive detonator contain within his pocket. Before Ry could find them however, Ruby walked in the door – this normally wouldn't have made Ry nervous, but Ruby had a pretty thick book under her arm that looked like it might contain the most diabolical plan ever.<p>

Despite Ruby being the most innocent looking of her group of friends Ry knew Ruby was the leader of her team, and that she more than likely had a shadier past than he did. A few of the stories floating around the office (White Fang HQ) were mainly ones of a particularly tough job, but one always seemed to resurface no matter how many times it was told. That tale told that there existed the daughter of Summer Rose, perhaps the most feared Huntress amongst terror organizations, and that she was twice as deadly as her mother … and probably did more conning than her mother ever would.

Where in the hell the people at the WFHQ got this info, Ry had no clue whatsoever. Ry Yin, deciding to leave before things got to hairy, regretted not being able to blow up the lunchroom. Half a ton of explosives were buried about 50 feet below the lacquered wood floor of the cafeteria …

* * *

><p>Ruby slammed the book down on the table startling only Weiss, who scowled her trademarked expression of distain at Ruby, who incidentally ignored her partner for the moment and said quite softly, "Alright everyone, I got something to say, so listen up!" Once everyone was sort of listening – Yang was still catching pieces of food in her mouth thrown by Nora - Ruby continued. "Alright everyone, since this is our second year here at Beacon, I've decided we must start our day of with a bang!"<p>

"Ha, that's funny since I always start my days off with a … Yang!" The smile on her lips faded once Yang realized that no one was laughing, "Aw come on that one was … yeah I'm not funny at all, am I?"

"You're not planning on making us do anything illegal are you?" Asked Weiss who was somewhat concerned; Ruby was after all a brown haired firework, and there was not telling what she could be up to.

"I am not a crook." Ruby said (looking oddly like Nixon) with a smile on her face. This one was genuine however, Ruby had learned that fake smiling never fools anyone, so not only did Ruby upturn her lips just enough she also smiled with her eyes. Of course all that looked mischievous, and that was the effect Ruby had been going for. "Alright first item on the agenda – "

Ruby ducked as a particularly large piece of food flew past her head. "Woops, guess my aim is getting a little off." Nora said somewhat jokingly – but Ruby could most definitely tell that Nora was lying.

Seeing the look that was about to pass between Ruby and Nora (one most likely filled with murderous intent) Yang stood up and yelled … after throwing the pie and smacking Nora right in the face, "FOOD FIGHT!" Chaos reigned for the next half hour; all the other students cleared out pretty fast, so it was just team JNPR and team RWBY left to duke it out with food.

A little pie artillery started things off, the only two people who got hit besides Nora were Juan and Weiss … things started to get a bit crazier after that.

* * *

><p>A sign saying "Newly Re-Opened" hung just above the door leading inside the store From Dust Till Dawn. The old man who ran the store stood on a ladder having just finished affixing the sign to the top of the front of his store. He fell down the latter and landed on his butt, grunting with the impact. A woman with dark skin and bright teal hair walked up to him and said, "Excuse me, I'm not from around here."<p>

She extended her hand to help the man up. After the old man was on his feet – surprisingly unharmed from the ladder fall – the woman asked, "Could you point me in the direction of this shop?" She held up a card with and address on it, the old man studied it and nodded. After getting the direction Emerald, master thief, walked down the sidewalk towards the bookstore she was looking for. She walked past two men standing in an alleyway.

One of them stopped Emerald with a hand and said, "And where are you going?"

"Listen Ry, I'm only doing the job leave me alone." Emerald said testy since she really didn't trust how Ry had risen in the ranks of the White Fang. After a few more words were exchanged the small group headed off towards the bookstore. Ry Yin entered last an unnoticed behind Emerald and Quentin. He crouched among the bookshelves waiting, while the two bantered on testing the motto 'home to every book under the sun' Ry stayed hidden. It wasn't long before Emerald asked, "What about 'The Third Crusade'?"

"I don't believe we have that one." Tucson answered haltingly.

"What was your stores name?"

"Tucson's Book Trade."

"And what was that catchy motto of yours?"

"Home to every book under the sun."

"Except 'The Third Crusade'." Emerald smiled after saying this then pointed a finger at Tucson, "And what would you call that then?"

"Well I call it false advertising … and a broken promise." Quinton said. After saying this he slowly dimmed the lights in the store by lowering the blinds on the store's windows. No one from outside could se in now, and as the shudders went down Emerald continued talking, and while that was happening Ry snuck ever closer to Tucson unnoticed.

"I hear your planning on leaving, and moving all the way to Vacuo. Some of your friends in the White Fang would be very upset to hear that, no one likes a broken promise." Emerald paused then added, "You know why we're really here, don't you?"

A sigh escaped his lips right before a growl tore its way up his throat. "Yes." Right before Tucson leaped over the counter to subdue these petty criminals, Ry popped up from behind and stabbed him in the neck with one of his many blades – a second stab went to his heart in the same instant. Tucson's limp body fell to the floor with a thump, and Ry sighed almost dejected. "Well now, that's over and done with, what say you we set up the first … surprise?"

At the mention of the other plan Emerald and Quinton went to work. The set up was tense, they were handling very volatile material; and it had to be set up in such a way that the authorities wouldn't know it was there … until it blew up once they decided to demolish the building. "Why are we setting up bombs?" Quinton asked.

"To undermine the authorities, since this is in a populated area they'll want the demolition of this building to be done by crane. When the explosion happens it will most definitely look like they had used explosives. General mayhem of course, but it's all part of the big plan." Ry responded, then added as somewhat of a side note, "Oh and Emerald? Pin this poor guy's body to the front of the store, no one will discover him otherwise."

"Damn that's dark … even for you Ry, whatever you say dude." Emerald said, secretly she had a crush on Ry Yin. This wasn't an innocent he looks like a god I want to be in his presence crush, it was more like secret admiration on the edge of becoming worshipful servitude. Emerald stared hard at the back of Ry as she went to get Tucson's body. Ry's black spiked hair caught the light as Quinton raised one of the blinds halfway up to let in some light, he slammed one of his combat boots into a shelf of books – how Ry was able to do that in white cargo pants Emerald could figure out.

All that was cool, but what Emerald loved best about Ry's wardrobe was the white hoddie with crimson Dragon Wrapping he always wore. Emerald herself was human, and that was the primary reason she hadn't come on to Ry yet. Ry was Faunus, that much Emerald could tell by his eyes, no normal human could have White slit black eyes much like a cats … but not. Many Faunus had eyes similar to Ry's, so which species was he?

Although it wasn't one of the questions keeping Emerald up at night, it did bug the living crap out of her quite often. Emerald grabbed Tucson's legs, and in a flash Ry was there helping her by lifting Tucson by his shoulders. Their eyes met for a brief moment, Emerald immediately asked, "What should I or we … use to put him up there?"

Ry stopped for a moment and considered, "Well whatever it is we better do it fast, Quinton's out there keeping watch so he'll tell us if someone is coming … I got an idea, quickly!" Emerald showed a bit of submissiveness when she followed Ry's orders, which disturbed her deeply.

She didn't acknowledge the feeling until later, once she had been out of Ry's presence for more than an hour. As the three made their way back to the WFHQ, they all had thoughts and feelings pertaining to their following tasks. The assignments ahead of them would take dedication, but in the end as they had been promised it would be worth it.

The sun was warm and Sun was enjoying it. His name meant more than people knew to him, Sun had only recently learned what it really meant and why his mother had given it to him. Walking on his way to the cafeteria Sun ran into his friend Neptune. "Hey man, what's happening?"

"Oh nothing much, just going to lunch … why are you here anyway Neptune? You don't even go to this school." Sun Replied.

"Dude did you forget? The tournament … a few schools will be coming here to compete against Beacon. The best of the best will be competing against each other." Neptune thought for a moment then added, "Can I come to lunch with you? If nothing else I'll be able to scout out the competition."

Sun smiled at his friend, then he laughed followed with, "Of course you can man." As they got closer to the cafeteria Sun added, "Oh my friends are a little crazy, so just be cool. You can be cool right?"

Neptune just stood there and flashed his normal cocky smile … cool down to the bones. "Yeah never mind." Sun muttered to himself as the lead the way to the cafeteria doors.


	17. Best Day Ever Pt 2 Tap

**All right here is where I somewhat heavily differ from the season, and or original cannon. Just a few warnings, every single female member … in team JNPR and RWBY … are sexy, drop dead sexy. I felt bored so I thought, why the hell not? It'll definitely make writing this more interesting. Also I hate Neptune and Sun, so they are now world-class perverts (and think with their dicks) want me to change this? Send me a review, and I'll think about it.**

* * *

><p>Tap, tap, tap; a finger stroke patter, repeated many times by an impatient person; repeated over the time period of an hour, slowly but deliberately and quietly. Through all the time spent waiting, Rideat Dente never once got impatient. Naturally, so not to disturb the class, he was doing it one the inside of his thigh. Just so he didn't punch holes in his leg, and 'nice' uniform pants, Rideat used his left hand to do the tapping.<p>

After all, despite how much pain he could endure, Rideat didn't thing her could survive several holes in his leg. Holes created by a heavily reinforced steel and silver right arm (basically a prosthetic for the baddass). '_Stupid class schedule; why extend class another 10 minutes? It's like being in prison … only less fun._' Rideat's thoughts kept him occupied, but not to distract to miss what the teacher was saying.

Rideat almost laughed manically when the teacher, Bloodwither or something, asked him what was possible with technology today. He answered in his laid back tone, "Yeah man, people especially the government can fund scientists to do all types of crazy stuff. I even hear that there are in development, better prosthetics."

"Ha, couldn't we all dream? My name is Bloodpour, or Bloodwither, or and other variation there of. Every single person I've met has insisted on not calling me by my real name, Blood! They think it's too morbid, but some of the things they come up with are even worse!" Prof. Blood stated, "It'd be great if they could have really good prosthetics, then maybe you could participate in the games."

"Actually Professor, I still can."

"Then why don't you come up to the class, and show everyone what it is you can do. This early morning class has been designed to be mostly student taught, so this will be a perfect example." Prof. Blood beckoned Rideat forward. He enthusiastically stood up in front of the class and presented himself. The first thing the class noticed about him (no not his right arm) was his appearance. Red hair, almost blood colored but not quite, one thing people began commenting on was his head.

On Rideat's head he wore a black beanie pulled down over his eyes. Across the front is the former symbol of the white-fang from before they changed management and methods. "Okay first of all let me explain the beanie, yes I was once a member of the White Fang, I will not deny it. Second I'm blind in both eyes, so yeah I wear this so you don't have to stare at … the damage whenever you look at me."

"Well then how do you see anything?" One student asked. Prof. Blood nodded encouragingly and other students sat straighter in their chairs, Rideat could obviously tell that everyone – or almost – had a question or two.

"That's a very good question. I can see because of my Aura, which is completely sensory based. It allows me to see the environment around me in the form if a black and gray landscape and I can see people and monsters in the form of colored silhouettes." Everyone seemed quite shocked by this, but they would've been outraged had they know just how far and what Rideat could see.

"Hey I read about you in the papers, you're an orphan! How did your parents die?" At the students question Prof. Blood started scolding with, "Now that's a little -"

"Hey Professor, it's alright. He's entitled to a qustion. They were burned to death by a group of Anti-Faunus extrimests." At this sentence a few people tensed and shifted uncomforably. '_Ah hell yeah, this class period wasn't a complete wast of time, now I know who to question later._' "Any other questions …?"

Everyone just sat there, some one however commented, "I like how your hair hangs just below your ears." Despite wanting very desperatly to upturn the table and throw it at them, Rideat kept his cool; never lost his temper outside of combat.

Not a beat went by before Rideat responded with a laugh, "Hey thanks man, appreciate it."

The Professor coughed briefly and all attention was on him, "I would like to point out the original reason I brought Mr. Dente up here, to talk about how he will still be able to … fight … in the tournament. So tell me, Rideat, how do you intend to fight in the tournament?"

Rideat smiled politely and responded with, "Sorry Professor, the competition isn't close to being here yet, so I've not really developed a strong strangely." Another apologetic smile and Rideat walked back to his seat. Grabbing his temporary bag (he mainly carried it around so as to look normal) Rideat, knowing the exact second the morning bell would ring, walked out of the classroom. Right on queue the bell rung and a … lot of students flooded the halls. It wasn't an impassible tide, someone could be driving an ice-cream truck through the hall and there still would've been room, but still Rideat didn't want to take any chances.

He walked on the right side of the hallway, that way if anyone were to bump into him they would hit his left arm which was normal … well normal for him. Next was the brand new gym class, it was implemented by Ozpin after he had received several complaints about the rigorous Combat Weeks from not only students but faculty as well. '_I don't like the idea of gym class; they allow sleeves so that's good. But I'll have to change into my workout outfit, and that means I'll have to take off my shirt in the locker room. My scares would impress the other boys, if only they were stretched across some serious muscle._'

Rideat planned something, since gym wasn't popular starting off people wouldn't be in a hurry to get to the class, this way if Rideat managed to get there first he could change quickly. A solid plan, however the gym door was on the other side of the hallway, and Rideat would have to cross the hallway. Unless he wanted to walk backwards, which he didn't, Rideat would have to walk with his right arm in full bumping range for all the students streaming past.

So not to risk people freaking out about his arm, that and he didn't want it discovered just yet; Rideat would have to stay up against the wall. Starring at his safe haven, an empty gym and most likely an empty changing room Rideat almost didn't make it. But he was determined, right up until he realized that waiting this long meant that people would catch him in the locker room. Cursing Rideat walked to the gym doors, and found it quite easy to navigate through the stream of people.

He had underestimated his aura in times of stress, when he wasn't acting like a complete psychopath. Someone, a very pretty girl, almost ran into him. Because she was so good looking Rideat stopped for a second instead of dodging out of the way. "Oh sorry did I run into you?" The girl asked. She grabbed a lock of her hair in frustration, "Anyway sorry if I did, if I didn't forget about it. You got the new gym class?"

After a moment Rideat laughed and gave Blake a hug, all of his hugs were light and soft – mainly because Rideat had weak build. "You're Blake Belladonna? Nice to meet, you … why are you staring at me like that? Hey Blake – well she's gone. *sigh*"

* * *

><p>Blake began to panic, '<em>How the hell, how the bloody hell did that kid know my name? And that symbol is he a spy? Sent here among the students to … to cause panic, or what?'<em> Blake's thoughts raced a mile a minute, his one hope was that the kid dispensed with the super creepy black beanie, it was definitely the White Fang's emblem … but something was strange about it. The feeling nagged at the back of Blake's mind, and she didn't know what to make of it.

After changing Blake discovered that she was 1 of 2 girls in a gym class of about 50 boys … meaning the boy to girl ration was 25:1, which in Blake's opinion were terrible odds. It wouldn't be hard to get a new dating partner that was for sure. Last summer, near the start anyway, Blake had dated a handsome Faunus kid named Sun. After a while Blake didn't feel good for some reason, neither did Sun so they broke it off halfway through the summer.

The only reason Blake hadn't gone and gotten another boyfriend was because of the breakup, she had – against her will – developed serious feelings for Sun. Almost heartsick with love, Blake had confessed to Sun that she was feeling trapped with him, but she also confessed her love to him at the same time. Instead of doing what she expected, Sun did something kind; he came up with an excuse, something to do with Stockholm syndrome, and let her off easy.

The send off, while extremely heart breaking, gave Blake the confidence that she could manage a relationship if she went slow.

* * *

><p>Sun laughed and said to Neptune, as they reached the cafeteria doors, "This may seem strange, but we eat breakfast like we eat dinner. Oh that and you're going to love these guys." When Neptune pushed open one of the cafeteria doors a pie almost hit him in the face, luckily enough for Neptune Sun stepped in front of him. Splat, and now Sun was covered in pie.<p>

"Eh don't worry, it's banana!"

"Ha, your funny." Neptune replied sarcasticly, he was about to say something else when he looked inside, his jaw dropped with shock. '_These people are Sun's friends? Really? These people, they way they're acting now, belong in an asylum._' After a moment Neptune spied somone, a girl with platinum blonde hair tied behind her head in a ponitail, weilding a baggett. '_Well that makes me queasy, what does she do in her free time?_' After standing there for a few minutes, and watching the literall food storm take place, Neptune questioned his being here.

Neptune realized telling himself that it was for the tournament, was only a half lie. What he really came here for was her, not specifically the princess looking baggette weilding blonde; some one he had been tracking for some time now. His cool apearences, sharp blue attire, and that cocky smile all were the perfect guise to hide Neptune's secert. Many people shared it with him, but most were too scared to admit it to anyone.

After all if you were once apart of something, that now shamed you, would you want to admit it to people? Neptune firmly believed that most people, if they were like him, wouldn't go back if they had the chance. The way things were looking now, with the group being all over the news for violent mysterious yet somehow obvious deaths? Neptune didn't see any possible way he would ever join back up with the ones he had run with before.

"Hey Sun?"

"Yeah dude, these people are like … the sexiest people alive!" Sun almost laughed, instead he whispered not wanting to disturbe the glorious moment. Nepturne lookes sideways, suspisciously, at his buddy Sun. His eyes were darting around, at first Neptune thought Sun was looking at his object, but then he noticed another girl next to the blonde. Her hair was black, she had the best outfit … the school uniform, but somehow a sexeir version than all the other girls – that Neptune had seen so far – had been wearing.

"Do you know what's going on here? I mean a food fight? Seriously? And these guys are you friends, I almost can't believe it."

"What do you mean, almost can't believe it? What's wrong with them? That's not some kind of insult, is it?"

"Of course it is, I'm saying you're weird and they're weird."

"They? Oh no Neptune, you are mistaken."

"Oh yeah, how? You may be checking out, and I mean undressing, that black haired bombshell with your eyes; but you're looking at all the ladies. You're a sexual predetor. I feel sooo stupid for not recognizing it." Neptune pointed a finger at Sun, but not before leaning back to avoid a cucumber throne like a discus, "You're are really fucked up."

"Hey watch it. I'm not fucked up man, I'm high on hormones. I got a big dick alright?"

"H-h-holy shiiit, I did NOT need to know that dude. I'm sure that gay looking fellow would like to know that though." Neptune pointed to a dude swinging and weilding suspisciously sharp looking celery pieces, like a gunchuck (gun + nunchuck). He looked asain, suspisciously too much like an undercover student, and was also wearing green.

"How do you know he's gay? Eh, takes one to know one man. Hold up." Sun froze in anticipations, Neptune did the same. They had both seen the same thing, but Sun pointed it out anyway, "Look down there, you're platinum chick just got tossed into a pillar."

The two boys looked and saw the most beautiful, devine, sexy, hot, deliscious, visualy pleasy, unearthly, naughty thought provoking angel ever to exist dive down at catch the platinum blonde in her arms. The goddess of sexiness (in Sun's and Neptune's eyes at least) cried out, "No Weiss! I need you here, we can finish this together."

'_Well scratch that black hair chick down the list, that sexy hot ass bitch will definitely mine._' Neptune was nasty, no doubt about that to those who really knew them … that or he had a really dangerous attitude whenever he got super horny.

* * *

><p><em><strong>2 hours later<strong>_

Blake still remembered the food fight, and how it had almost been the perfect start to the best day ever. That was until two guys attempted to gang bang her, while she was getting dresed. How they had followed her back to her room without getting noticed by staff, was a disturbing wonder to Blake. '_This place is awesome, I can't wait to see what it has in store for me next_._ Then again I should really stop exuding such a sexy air, but I can't help myself_._ Aw well, time to go suduce me a bad boy_.' This attitude wasn't normal, but then again it wasn't every day that you started to turn everyone's head … while still in highschool.

It had all started the second everyone, Blake Ruby Yang Weiss Velvet Pyrrha Nora, had walked back on campus. People couldn't stop staring, but they were polite enough – at least some people were – to look away and do othe rthings when the girls were concentrating on their school work. However, Blake had a feeling that the voting part of the might be based on – she shook her head. '_Keep your mind out of the gutter damnit, most people don't care and neither should you._'

Now that she thought about it, Blake doubted she would be able to make it far in the tournament. Sure she probably wouldn't lose any of her fights, but they wouldn't be stellar performances. Blake kknew that in order to rise in the rankings, so to speak, in the competetion you litterally had to be the best of the best. That meant no hand outs, you had to earn every victory without any lucky handout. You either won by wearing the other person out, or beating them to a bloody pulp.

Blake's first class of the day just so happpened to be gym, it also just so happened to be the same class with the weird new kid. Blake had a feeling that the kid she saw, the one with the black beanie pulled over his eyes, might not have been new nessecarily. Blake wasn't new to the school, this was her second year here, and she already knew her way around … most of the time. With the influx of people attending Beacon, sometimes Blake didn't go the places she normally did. Her faveorite haunts were out of the question, mainly because they were too out of the way and away from faculty.

The normal Blake, which was long gone, would love to find an ice dark comfortable corner and hole up. But from Blake's very recent experience she had learned that never worked. She had never felt so violated, usually when Blake was by herself she got to think, but that was immpossible while trying to fend off two arressive horny jerks. While it was happening thought, Blake had gotten a good look into Sun's eyes.

They looked strained, and every movement seemed forced. The sadistic grin on Neptune's face told Blake that her ex boyfriend had been corrupted by a sleaze in disguise. Blake wasn't going to tell anyone, mainly because she didn't particularly care for what happened to Sun. Blake sighed and washed and scraped the last bit of blood from under her short fingernails. It was time to play volleyball, and no time to pop balls with her sharp nails.

* * *

><p>Ruby's wish for the best day ever came true, as she created the whirlwind storm that ended up splattering everyone with food, she felt a sadistic definitely guilty pleasure that somehow felt justifying to all the times she had been wronged.<p> 


	18. Ruby the Troublemaker

The fact that Ruby still had nightmares was a testament to the fact that her life before Beacon was rough to say the least. It wasn't really the things Ruby did, the kind of trouble she got into that really made life hard. Walking to the shower to clean up – her first class didn't start for half an hour – Ruby had a flashback to one particular event in the summer of her 13th birthday. It had been a cold day, which was at first odd; Ruby understood once she realized the earlier events of the day.

Ruby stood in her one-piece bathing suit, on the tiny island where she had grown up. He uncle Qrow, sitting next to her father on a beach chair was speaking, and Ruby was listening in. "But it doesn't make sense, how could they just disappear?" With a jolt Ruby realized that Qrow was referring to the forbidden training manuals she had taken, Qrow or her father didn't know that she did. It was only a matter of time however, and Qrow bringing it up to her father made Ruby nervous.

How long until he confronted his daughter, the younger one who had a tendency to fib and take things that weren't really hers? Granted Ruby hadn't done anything serious, but she had done it often enough to where some trust had been lost. Not lost, more like morphed. Ruby's father still trusted her to be honest, and that was Ruby's one weakness. When she had started down this path, the one responsible had told her, "Your weakness must be your greatest strength, but always remember that it is also your greatest weakness, no matter how strongly you use it. Also, take care that you don't lean on it too much, it is your weakness after all."

Ruby, lacking the confidence to take her problems head on, had on more than one occasion told the truth. The truth that was most convenient at the time. Eventually though Ruby would tell them, eventually. Unfortunately for her conscience Ruby hadn't done that yet, and Yang hadn't known for very long. Thanks to that, and guilt pressuring Ruby had managed to buy temporary silence from Yang about her latest 'crime'. It had been serious, and Ruby was afraid. Afraid of her uncle, afraid of her father, afraid of what they would think of her; these thoughts consumed Ruby. On the beach Ruby should have been happy, the warm sands had always in the past seemed to have a calming effect on her.

"Your daughter doesn't look calm, a thought this place was good for her." Qrow commented, looking sideways at Ruby. Jonathan looked sideways at his brother and said, "Do I look like I control my daughter's emotions? She needs to feel unease, and all those other emotions sooner or later."

"That's cruel! Doing this to a little girl, your own for god's sake." Qrow furiously whispered; he did so quietly so Ruby wouldn't catch wind. Thankfully for Qrow, the beach today was noisy just enough to drown out their conversation. "What are you doing with your children? Brother you're scaring me, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to be a distant friend to Yang, and I also want you to ignore the fact that my daughter Ruby is stealing you training manuals." Jonathan let out a chuckle, and Ruby hearing it smiled. She loved it when her father laughed; then again Ruby was a bit dense when people used sarcasm interspersed with smiling and or laughing. "It's true to a point that Ruby will learn all she will know about being a Huntress, from you. To be more precise, Qrow my brother, she will read the books you wrote and transform herself into something … terrible."

"But her attitude, I agree with you on the point of her combat self being terrible." Qrow held up a hand stalling his brother's objective comment, "Let me finish then I'll leave you and Ruby alone. Your daughter is still the brightest person I know, bubbly and optimistic to the wire. It amazes me sometimes, how happy your daughter can be. As well as honest … ha! I laugh at my own joke, those things are becoming less true about Ruby the longer she gets older."

"What are you saying? That my daughter will eventually find herself in a situation, that she would much not prefer? You think she doesn't know what she's turning into?" Jonathan protested.

"Well if you know what's going to happen why don't you stop her?" Qrow's voice had risen in volume, so he stopped talking long enough to check the beach surrounding them to see if anyone was listening. Ruby in the absence of discernible conversation to eavesdrop on, had wandered off a considerable distance down the beach. The distance between them was large enough that, even if Qrow screamed Ruby wouldn't hear as long as the wind wasn't blowing in her direction from the two men.

"Oh trust me, I wish I could do something about it." Jonathan sighed and pinched his nose, "But I can't unfortunately. I learned from my wife …"

"Which one?" Qrow interrupted, "The one that left you, or your more recent one?"

"What does it matter? The important thing is that I shouldn't interfere with their personal development. If I train them, they'll have the same exploitable weaknesses that I have. Despite this not being a trouble, since I have so few, I still have some glaring weaknesses. Aside from my family and friends, and they are most obvious to my most nefarious adversary." Jonathan took a breath then continued, "Whatever happens I will no longer be a Hunter, for their lives."

"What will you do about Yang? I refuse to tutor her, as I realize that my methods will be too … hazardous to any who face them." Qrow reiterated, "What I mean by that is, I would end up turning them into ruthless killing machines. Little does anyone know, I founded the White Fang, and I also manage their training? Well … I don't anymore, I quite for obvious reasons. See, my methods are based off of a forbidden art of manipulation, controlling you enemies mind. Making them fears you, toying with them before you ultimately rip them limb from limb."

Jonathan stared at his brother and mad a vow. "I will not let my daughter be trained from your books, but since I no longer consider myself a Hunter, you should train her. I however, on good consciousness, trust that you will only train Ruby in the art of wielding a scythe."

"A scythe? That's the weapon you've chosen for your daughter. But why choose a scythe? It takes a great deal of strength to wield such a weapon, and even then it takes even more determination to develop skill with it necessary to become a Huntress with it." Qrow said this like it was obvious, and it was. If you looked at Ruby when she was 13 she wasn't strong, she was developing slightly. You could now tell that she was a girl, and had lost her tom boyishness. But by no means was she strong in the muscles, strong in the attitude maybe but she couldn't wield a scythe. Qrow voiced this to his brother, and Jonathan replied with, "She's held you scythe before. You remember that one time you lost it?"

Qrow nodded, he remembered that day when his jet-black scythe had gone missing. For almost two months, Qrow had to use an improvised farm scythe to fight. He had reinforced it, and in the process learned even more about fighting. In those two months Qrow had gained invaluable experience with using his surroundings as a weapon. Eventually he had found his scythe again, "When I found it, I also found that the edge had been dulled."

"Oh really?" Jonathan asked with a smirk on his face, he already knew where this was going. He had seen Ruby at work with the scythe. Granted it hadn't started off well, as Jonathan had clearly seen. However once Ruby ran off into the woods, disappearing for one week, he couldn't keep track of her. Jonathan had stayed behind to take care of Yang, she had been going through a rough time in school and her mother was unavailable during that week.

Jonathan sat there staring into Qrow's eyes, daring him to guess the real reason why Ruby had taken his scythe. In the end despite all his bravado, Qrow wasn't able to show Jonathan that he knew everything about Ruby. He liked to think so, after all Qrow saw Jonathan as this horrible father figure. Marrying two wives – which totally went against Qrow's beliefs – and favoring one daughter over the other, basically said to Qrow that Jonathan wasn't fit to be a father.

There in resided a conflict, Ruby had no idea that secretly her uncle and father hated each other. Qrow hated Jonathan because 1) he attracted two wives 2) he always had the favor of their father 3) Yang 4) Ruby. First because Qrow was ugly … in a sense that he looked like a grumpy old man, a happy old man; any emotion put in an old man sense, even though he wasn't that old. Because of that no woman really wanted to have sex with him outside of marriage, and based on that and Qrow's … unique set of ideals, he never married or got involved with women outside of strip clubs.

Second was a touchy subject, Qrow may have been older, but he knew deep down in his heart that his father always favored his second born son, Jonathan. It hadn't been this gradual thing either, Qrow being quite a few years older than Jonathan had in a sense loved his father very much and felt that his father felt the same way about him. However, anyone could tell that the minute Jonathan was born … the father lost almost all interest in Qrow. At this point in time, unlike all psychological logic would suggest, Qrow didn't want to see Jonathan's head on a pike for stealing his childhood out from under him.

Third … Qrow loved violence no question about that, and to have a daughter more inclined towards that but also being intensely interested in her physicality and why it interested boys … would have been a dream come true for Qrow. However seeing as how Qrow never married, and his only girlfriend committed suicide because of … him, basically threw him for a loop. Qrow after a while stopped looking for a wife, and or girlfriend and he lost interest. And of course, once a guy losses interest in girls, girls then loose interest in that guy. Plus that and Qrow was very psychically attracted to Yang, he really did want to fuck her … to put it lightly. His violent nature tended to rule his life in all aspects, what kept him from going insane and letting loose? That would be the last point as to why Qrow hated Jonathan.

Fourth and finally, but probably the main reason why Qrow hadn't yet forgiven Jonathan for his existence, was Ruby. Ruby a gem worth more than any price in Jonathan's eyes, worth more than any current Huntress's worth and weight in gold. Add to the fact that Ruby had stolen some of Qrow's most valuable training books … things weren't very well off between them. "Yes." Qrow replied not bothering to whisper, even though the tide had died down enough for Ruby to hear every word. "That little girl of yours has stolen 7 of my most valuable, and forbidden I might add, training books that I own."

"It wasn't my fault!" Ruby yelled both then and now. Someone was shaking Ruby awake, and she was this once grateful for that. "Hey what time is it?"

"Time to get up sleepy head, it is Friday and that means you and I will get our combat week assignment." It was Weiss who was shaking Ruby; her platinum blonde hair fell across Ruby's forehead. Just then she realized that Weiss was lying right next to her … and that Weiss also was pulling her hand out of Ruby's panties. Upon seeing the slightly violated look on Ruby's face, Weiss commented, "You know? You're cute when you moan in your sleep."

"I was moaning in my sleep … Weiss! Why would you do that?" Ruby protested, and took a swing at Weiss. Instead of connecting Ruby's fist hit nothing but air, and she ended up wrapping an arm around Weiss's shoulders. Stammering she tried to correct the situation, "This is not what it - "

"Not what it looks like?" Weiss's face was an inch from Ruby's, she moved it closer and soon their noses and foreheads were touching; Weiss stared deep into Ruby's eyes. Ruby, looking at the pale blue icy eyes of Weiss, felt her eyelashes brush with Weiss's. "Wondering why we're so close? I told you Ruby; I was addicted to sex while growing up. Well maybe I didn't tell you that part, but still I was. A sex-oholic they'd call me."

"But why me? You said you treated me like a sister, and why do it now?" Ruby realized that they didn't have much time; their last combat week assignment hadn't gone so hot, and as such they couldn't mess up their first one of the second year. Their last assignment had been to prevent a major dust robbery, what everyone planned for was fighting the notorious Roman Torchwick and a bunch of his goons. What really happened, and what no one was expecting, was fighting not only Roman Torchwick and a lot of goons but also three more figures.

The three figures names were, although this was unknown to everyone save Rideat, Arashi, and perhaps Ozpin; Emerald, Quinton, Ry Yin. The last one gave them the most trouble. It had looked like none could beat him, even when the seemingly all powerful Penny had showed back up and released her swords things till went down hill. Ry Yin seemed to know everyone's weaknesses within a few short minutes of fighting them. Ruby had been the last one to join the fray, and Ry Yin either let up on her or Ruby was just that good.

Either way the fight of Ry vs. Ruby had dragged on for nearly an hour, until Roman Torchwick ordering everyone back inside the vehicles, shot Yang in the left side of her chest and once again in the right shoulder. For a moment it looked like Ry hadn't found Ruby's one weakness, but he was ultimately right.

"Do you still remember?" Ruby asked still completely mortified that Weiss had used her body to pleasure herself, while she slept. '_I was being shaken awake … oh god, that's either really kinky or very … odd. I've never been woken up by sex before._'

"You mean our last combat assignment? The one where that one really creepy guy nearly murdered all of us? Yeah I remember, clear as day like it was yesterday. I still remember how we survived. Team ICRS showed up, only two of them managed to make a difference. But not for long, pretty soon Roman and his two special goons got off the ship and fought with Ry Yin. Since most of us were too injured to fight, Arashi and Cero were overwhelmed. Adrian tried helping, bur his weakness was so apparent to Ry that he was out could the minute he interfered."

Ruby blushed on the outside, and on the inside she began to worry. Was having sex with Weiss considered cheating on both Arashi and Cero? Weiss had done it without Ruby's initial consent, but looking back on how her dreams had been before the nightmare Ruby swore up and down she enjoyed it. So the answer to the question was yes, although she wasn't really to blame Ruby had cheated on both her boyfriends.

Now Ruby was the type of person to apologize and tell the two guys the truth, but she knew at least one of them would 1) hate her for cheating or 2) cheating with her partner, assigned by the school not chosen personally. Without realizing it Ruby's body accepted it, but her mind couldn't yet comprehend it. "So should I be with you or what?"

"No. Don't declare you self my girlfriend, declare yourself to be one of your two boyfriends girlfriend. Then once you've chosen, dump the other one." Weiss chuckled and said, "Blake and Yang'll be back from getting the laundry load, I think I better stop now." Grinning evilly, Weiss pulled herself out of Ruby's cum soaked sheets and stood up stretching. Walking to the bathroom, Weiss turned on the shower. Ruby's cheeks flamed and she wondered, '_by leaving the bathroom door open, did she mean to invite me in? No that's just silly, or is it? She said she never wanted to be called my girlfriend, but what is she then? Weiss is my partner, but in more ways then one?_'

This thought scared the living hell out of Ruby, but she persisted and climbing out of her own sheets she stood up. Turning around and looking down Ruby was amazed, that much cum had soaked the sheets. If the activities were that riotous, why hadn't Blake or Yang woken them up? Or said something? Ruby was amazed about the fact that she could have slept through all that, while walking to the bathroom door Ruby examined her dreams.

How could she remember them so clearly? Ruby just then realized that they weren't dreams … they were memories of the night before.

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><p><strong>AN: Looks like I'm being held up slightly, I want to do this story as much as the other one I'm doing. Therefore, I'll be slow in updating this one. Hope you don't mind.**


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